7 Years Waiting For You
by Musicat
Summary: What if Mamoru left Tokyo before Sailor Moon was awoken? Now 8 years later he's returned in search of a dream, but will the overprotective shitennou let him anywhere near the princess that belongs to the one they call Endymion.
1. Chapter 1 Doctor Mizuno

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 1 - Doctor Mizuno**

"Congratulations!" screeched Usagi, running over to give Ami a huge hug as the blue-haired girl entered the Crown arcade. "I'm so proud of you! My very own bestest friend got into the very bestest medical school in all of Tokyo! I mean, we all knew it would happen, but still, this is reason to celebrate."

"I don't know about that, I have a long degree ahead of me," replied the beaming Miss Mizuno, who was hanging off the arm of her long-time boyfriend Zoisite. It had been quite a surprise to everyone, except maybe Sailor Venus, when the meek and brainy Ami Mizuno had suddenly started dating the attractive and teasing Zoisite seven years ago. Indeed it shocked no one so much as Sailor Mercury herself.

Mercury smiled thinking about how far she had come since that fateful day she had been convinced she was going to die. In fact she had been dying. Zoisite and Kunzite had captured the inner senshi and had been ordered by Queen Beryl to kill them and seize their rainbow crystals. But in her dying moments a miracle occurred, Zoisite remembered Ami, and their long ago tragic past. In that flash of recognition he had thrown the dark kingdom's rainbow crystals to Sailor Moon and told her to combine them with the senshi's crystals. Miraculously the ginzuishou had formed and Sailor Moon, no the Moon Princess, used it to heal her injured senshi and undo Beryl's mind control of Zoisite and Kunzite.

"So I heard the good news," came Makoto's voice, as she burst into the arcade to join the quickly growing group. The girls had broken the strict senshi 'business only' rule with their communicators and had scheduled an impromptu get together at their old hang out to celebrate Ami's success. In fact Motoki had been kind enough to close the place down to outside customers so they could celebrate in privacy.

Makoto gave Ami a quick hug and then took a seat at the counter beside Usagi. The two girls chatted lightly with Motoki who was busy making banana splits for 'his girls' as he affectionately called them. With good reason too, their patron-ship had helped pay for his business courses.

"Ami!" screeched Minako, as she ran into the arcade, barely pausing to allow the automatic doors to open. "I'm so happy for you!" she screeched as she grabbed her fellow senshi and twirled her around in a unique Minako hug. "My producer was so mad at me for running out on a recording, but I just told him my friends always come first. Of course he's used to that from me. Oh and Kunzite's coming too," babbled the infectiously joyful Minako. "Too bad 'Ruka and Michi couldn't come though. I do want to take Hotaru shopping now that she's old enough to appreciate a good sale but those three always seem to be off on exotic vacations now that things are relatively slow."

Minako stopped talking for a second and looked around the room. "Where are Rei and Jade?" she asked realizing that they were missing more people than she thought they should be.

"They were out house hunting so they will be a few minutes driving back," explained Usagi, though she had an idea it was more than that keeping the couple. They ran so hot and cold she wondered if it was the fight or the making up which was keeping them this time.

"Really? I don't understand those two at all. One moment they can barely stand each other the next they are buying houses together," commented Minako. "And when are they going to tie the knot?" she asked more to herself than anyone else.

"Not everyone loves as you do," observed Zoisite caustically earning him a nudge from Ami. He often wondered how the stoic Kunzite managed to put up with the lively Venusian. But the lovely couple had been married three years and even Minako's sudden popularity as a pop idol didn't seem to hurt their relationship. In fact if anything it had only made them grow closer as it gave Kunzite the perfect opportunity to play the heroic husband by protecting Minako from overzealous fans.

Kunzite, Zoisite, Ami and Minako settled down in a booth and eagerly begin to eat the banana splits that Motoki had prepared for them. The four were enjoying their deserts, as evidenced by much mming and ahhing which was probably also slightly directed towards their gossip about Rei and Jadeite's relationship.

"I just think we built him up too much before we saved him from his icy nap. When Rei thawed him out she expected too much," commented Zoisite and Kunzite agreed with this assessment. "What do you mean?" broke in Minako, "You too were always saying if he wasn't so headstrong and immature he wouldn't have gotten put into eternal sleep in the first place," she reminded them, knowing that the boys couldn't argue with that. "True, but Rei was still expecting him to be her one and only, just like you guys were for us," pointed out Ami, earning her a smug grin from the two shitennou. "And it did take us two whole years to find him too, so all that expectation had to be hard."

Makoto and Usagi remained at the counter while Motoki went to the storage room to get more bananas for the splits. They knew they should go and join their friends but gatherings of the senshi and shitennou were hard for the two girls. Especially considering the subject now being discussed. "Makoto how is your new job going?" Usagi asked lamely, trying to get their thoughts away from the happy and giggling couples at the table next to them.

"Oh, the produce there is really great. Which is nice, because no chef can do justice to her craft with bad produce," replied Makoto dully. Usagi could tell her mind was a million miles away.

"I'm sorry Makoto," whispered Usagi, as she patted her friend on the shoulder.

"How do you mourn someone you never really knew?" Makoto whispered to her friend. If only Nephrite hadn't of... but he had. She had dated several men in the last seven years but none of them had seemed to measure up to the ideal that she didn't even fully remember. It was absurd that she couldn't get over him when she had never known him as anything but her enemy in this lifetime.

"The same way you wait for someone who you don't know and can't find?" replied Usagi wistfully. She looked down at her hands and cursed the name that haunted her in her sleep. 'Endymion!' She hated that name. It was the name of her one great love whom she was supposed to live happily ever after with. The name which was practically worshipped among the shitennou. The one person they liked to remind her about if she even so much as looked at another guy. The one person they never seemed to be able to find.

"Seiya really cared for you, you know?" Makoto stated, suddenly curious about how Usagi had really felt about him. Usagi had never once mentioned Seiya's name after Galaxia's defeat and the Starlights departure, and none of the senshi had been brave enough to broach the subject with her. No doubt the shittenou had though. "I mean, I think that he could have made you happy too. Do you regret that you let him go away?" Makoto had to admit to herself she had been sad when Seiya had left. She hadn't had any feelings for him, but if Usagi had been able to get past her past life then there would be hope for her as well.

Usagi smiled sadly at her friend. She indeed had known the extent of Seiya's feelings and she had felt the same way. But there had always been 'Endymion' between them. This by itself probably would not have been enough to stop Usagi from being with Seiya, if it weren't for the shittennou. Usagi shuddered to herself remembering her first and last kiss with Seiya before he and the other Starlights had gone home. Jadeite and Zoisite had witnessed it and had told Usagi in no simple terms that she was to tell Seiya to go home, that she didn't love him enough for him to stay. "Do you even care if we find Endymion?" Zoisite had yelled at her with rage. Jadeite had merely looked at her with angry and betrayed eyes.

"Rei, so what if I asked if the house had a secret room?" came Jadeite's voice as the couple stormed into the Crown.

"So what? Do you want to declare who we are to the world," she hissed back, while motioning for Jade to stop talking about it. This was after-all Ami's celebration and she would not let her foolish boyfriend ruin it.

"Ami!" said Rei, her tone of voice doing a complete 180 as she smiled at her friend. "I'm so happy for you," she added as she pushed over Minako to make room for herself in the crowded booth. Jadeite pushed equally as hard on Kunzite on the opposite side, but with less successful results as evidenced by the fact that half of his bottom was hanging over the edge of the seat.

Motoki had finished the banana splits for the rest of the gang and Usagi and Makoto helped him carry them to the booth before they pulled stools over to join their friends. "Congrats Ami!" said Motoki, adding his congratulations to those of all of her friends.

"Thank you guys so much," Ami squealed in a very un-Ami-like fashion. Her happiness was hard to contain. She was with her best friends in the whole world celebrating an exciting new part of her life that she had worked so hard towards. And that had not only meant doing well in her studies but also overcoming all the enemies that had tried to break them apart over the years.

"Can I ask you something Miss Mizuno?" piped up Zoisite, nervously breaking through the chatter of his friends who were eagerly digging into their deserts. "I know that it will be a long time before you finish your studies, though four or even ten years is nothing close to a thousand." The whole table that had been alive with the clicking of spoons and good wishes was suddenly dead silent as Zoisite continued. "But if you would do me the honour of agreeing to someday maybe being..." "Oh she will!" burst out Minako who turned three shades of red when all of the table's occupants glared at her. "Well, what I was trying to say," continued a much redder Zoisite, after a glare at Minako and an awkward silence. Why had he done this in public? "Is that if you would agree to be my wife someday you would make me the luckiest man in the world." With that Zoisite gingerly got out of his set and timidly got down on one knee in front of Ami to offer her a beautiful diamond ring cut in the shape of the ginzuishou.

"What she said," laughed Ami, as Zoisite put the ring on her finger and her fellow senshi crowded around her to inspect it with awe. "It's so pretty," cooed Minako while Makoto tried to compliment Ami's ring but ended up saying a hallow, "Congrats." Usagi merely smiled and pulled Ami into another big hug while warning Zoisite that she would take the real ginzuishou to anyone who dare hurt one of her princesses. "I hope you're taking notes," said Rei, reaffirming her current truce with Jade.

While the friends were oohing and ahhing over Ami's ring a knock came from the door of the arcade. "Someone can't read the 'Closed' sign," joked Usagi, looking angrily towards the person who dared try to intrude on their little group's private moment. Even Motoki knew of their secret and it was nice not having to worry about what they said for once.

"I'll tell whoever it is to go away," said Motoki, as he got up and headed to the counter to grab a free ice cream coupon. Motoki didn't like the idea of losing a potential customer. But to the groups chagrin instead of sending the customer on his way they heard a "Hey, sorry guys, but I'm letting him in," from Motoki a few seconds later.

"Oh do you have to?" whined Usagi as Motoki and the other man entered the arcade. She took a sudden dislike to this intruder for some unknown reason. He did look vaguely familiar and Usagi tried to conjure up where she had seen him before. And then it hit her! He was that rude friend of Motoki's who she had accidently ran into once or twice in junior high. It was odd she would remember him so clearly and with so much disdain! But most likely her displeasure had more to do with the pretty ring on her friend's finger. Her great love for her fellow senshi would never allow her to be openly jealous of them, but her loneliness and frustration had to be directed somewhere.

"Sorry about this guys. But this is my best friend Mamoru," introduced Motoki, gesturing at the other man. "He's just got back from America," he added trying to justify letting him in.

"I thought I was your best friend," teased Usagi, though a hint of disdain still lingered in her voice.

"So you've replaced me with a gorgeous blonde?" replied Mamoru, smirking devilishly at Usagi, though his words were directed at Motoki. It had been too long since his high school days when he and Motoki had sat at the counter of the arcade and discussed homework and girls. Not that he had discussed girls or Motoki homework, but they had bonded despite their differences.

"Sorry buddy, she won me over," laughed Motoki. "But come on, sit down with us. We're celebrating because Ami here just got into medical school. And since you've just graduated from med perhaps you can give her some tips."

"Perhaps she can give me some as well. I've been away from Tokyo so long I'm nervous about starting my residency here after being in America," replied Mamoru, happily taking the stool that Motoki had pulled out for him beside the gorgeous blonde. She looked like... but no, he had to put that stupid dream out of his head before it consumed his whole life.

"So why bother coming back?" asked Kunzite, and Motoki glared at him for being so rude to his old friend. Kunzite merely glared back. Couldn't Motoki see that this strange guy was making eyes at Usagi? And if the girl had almost fallen in love with a transexual alien, didn't Motoki know the risk of introducing a handsome doctor?

End Chapter 1

Stay Tuned for Chapter 2 - Double Dates and Old Flames


	2. Chapter 2 Double Dates and Old Flames

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 2 - ****Double Dates and Old Flames**

'Why did I come back?' Mamoru asked himself, barely noticing the glares that were being passed between the others sitting in and around the booth. He really didn't have a good answer for that, at least not one that made any sense. In this case honesty - 'a mystical woman who haunts my dreams seemed to want me too' - probably wasn't the best policy. Unless he wanted to spend his first days back in Tokyo in the psychiatric ward. That would be an interesting first impression to give his new colleagues at the hospital.

"Well, I knew I needed to be here to prevent a beautiful lady from feeling like a 5th wheel," he joked, trying to relieve the tense atmosphere, not realizing that he was merely making matters worse with his cavalier comment.

"Motoki," hissed Jadeite after Mamoru's remark and Motoki reluctantly put his arm around Usagi's shoulders. Usagi groaned internally. She didn't even want this rude stranger guy, who showed up unexpectedly all newly graduated, stealing Ami's limelight, ruining their private celebration and acting like he was god's gift to women wrapped in a green jacket. But still they went into their act, as if she would fall for any good looking guy who walked past her like some deprived junior high school girl.

Motoki smiled at Mamoru, "My girl is beautiful isn't she?" he asked, feeling sheepish. No matter how many times he did this, it never got comfortable. He and Usagi were great friends, but there had been enough underlying attraction at different times from different sides to still make this odd. Fortunately his long time Usagi association without dating had earned him the trust of the shitennou. But he would still wake up at 3 a.m. some nights, covered in sweat from imagining that they had found out about that long ago kiss in the back room.

"She is," agreed Mamoru, trying to hide his disappointment. He had never expected to see Motoki with a blond, for some reason he felt that the soulful brunette sitting on the other side of him would have been more to his style.

Everyone fell silent again for a moment and Mamoru felt guilty for intruding on their celebrations. He felt like he should go, but for some reason he just didn't want to leave. "So Motoki, old friend, I was wondering if you had any tips on good apartment buildings around here?" he asked, trying to restart the conversation he felt responsible for murdering. "Or else I may be forced to spend my days camped out on your couch."

"Actually, there are a few vacancy's in our building," piped up Makoto before Motoki could reply. "And they are showing them all the time. You could check it out right away," she added.

"That's a great idea Makoto! Why don't you take Mamoru and show him," suggested Zoisite in a tone that Mamoru noted was just a little too enthusiastic.

"I'd be willing if you want me too," Makoto offered earnestly, and Mamoru smiled at the tall girl. "If you don't mind waiting until I finish my banana split that is," she added gesturing with her spoon to the diminishing pile of ice cream in her bowl.

"Oh I'm sorry Mamoru, would you like some ice cream?" asked Motoki, realizing they were all pigging out in front of him. He expected Mamoru to take the offer as an opportunity to excuse himself from the group. It was nice to see his old friend again but if it meant his new friends wanted to murder him it wasn't worth it.

"Actually, why not?" replied Mamoru, surprising his old friend. Mamoru the self-imposed recluse was actually going to stay and eat with them! But then again, Motoki supposed that eight years of university couldn't help but make you more social.

The ten people sat and chatted lightly while they ate their sundaes. The shitennou actually behaved kindly towards Mamoru now that it was ascertained he was leaving with Makoto.

"Well, congrats again Ami," said Makoto as she hugged her friend and carried her bowl to the counter of the arcade. "Are you ready to see the apartments?" she asked Mamoru.

"If you're ready to show me," replied Mamoru, picking up his empty bowl and carrying it to the counter likewise. Motoki followed him over and began to clean up their dishes as his dishwasher had been allowed to go home, with pay, for the special party.

"Well, I will probably head home with you guys then," replied Usagi with a sigh. "Since my boyfriend is busy after-all," she added especially for the benefit of the shitennou. They made her so angry sometimes, that she almost took a pleasure in frustrating them. She had become somewhat of a flirt after Seiya had left solely for the benefit of frustrating them which served only to make them more frustrating. But she just couldn't help it!

"Then why don't you help him with the clean-up?" asked Kunzite pointedly.

"And ruin my nails?" she asked showing them her newest manicure. If they wanted to treat her like a shallow ditz, she could play the part. Though she really did like her new manicure, even if it would be replaced soon. She had opened a 'beauty retreat' a few blocks down and was always experimenting with new manicures, pedicures and hairstyles, having forsaken her classical odango style many years before. Though she had only been able to open her own business because of it. Many girls wanted their hair to mimic the famous Sailor Moon and Usagi had gotten her start styling young girls' hair like the super heroine.

'High maintenance,' thought Mamoru, realizing perhaps her beauty came with a price. But despite that he was still pleased that she would be joining them.

"So what is the apartment like?" asked Mamoru as the three of them walked towards the building.

"Oh it's great," replied Makoto, "There's a pool downstairs and a great eatery on the floor level. Even if I do say so myself." she joked.

"You're a cook there?" asked Mamoru.

"A chef, and one of the best," bragged Usagi, and Mamoru was surprised to see nothing of the haughty blond of earlier as the girl smiled at her friend. Usagi had been mostly silent since they left the arcade and he had assumed she was brooding about something. But now she was all smiles. And in her smile he could see why Motoki would put up with her earlier behaviour.

"And there's a gym," added Makoto quickly, embarrassed by Usagi's praise.

"There is?" asked Usagi incredulously, and Makoto and Mamoru couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"Yes, it's in the basement. I go there to work out in the mornings. You know, at 8 a.m when you're still fast asleep," laughed Makoto. "We're roommates," she explained to Mamoru.

"Oh," said Usagi, blushing slightly. 'That blush really is adorable' thought Mamoru despite himself. This was his friend's girlfriend though! And Makoto was perfectly lovely. Why couldn't he feel like this for her? 'Because she doesn't resemble her' said a voice popping into his head.

"Anyway, we're here. As you can see another bonus is we're quite close to the Arcade," smiled Makoto. "And Motoki!" she added, playfully nudging Usagi who merely glared daggers at her. 'Not you too Makoto' she groaned.

"I don't know if that's a bonus," she muttered and Mamoru felt himself wistfully hoping all was not perfect in his friend's relationship. But that still didn't mean Usagi would like him, and he couldn't very well date his friend's ex either. Though it had been 8 years...

The three friends walked into the building together lost in their own thoughts while Makoto called the super to tell him that she had a potential tenant with her. The super only kept them waiting for several minutes before appearing and asking the three of them to follow him.

"I think I have a perfect single for a young doctor," stated the superintendent matter-of-factly. "The one catch is it will not be available for another two days, and the current tenant is still in the process of moving out. But I'm sure he won't mind having you come down and take a look."

The super knocked on the door and a tall man with light dirty blond hair, light bluish grey eyes and a chiselled jaw opened the door. "Sure you can come in," he answered friendlily after listening to the super's request. "As long as you don't mind the mess."

The man's eyes sweeped over the small group, momentarily pausing on one of its members as Mamoru made his way into the apartment. Usagi was about to follow him but Makoto grabbed her arm and pulled her back out into the hallway. "It's him," she breathed and Usagi merely looked at her friend confused.

"Him? Who him?" asked Usagi, trying to break through Makoto's suddenly induced semi catatonic state.

"Him," she hissed back, and Usagi looked at the man again through the open door. It didn't look like Nephrite, besides they had seen him die years ago. But who else could be a 'him' for Makoto?

"More specific," urged Usagi, and Makoto took a deep breath before elaborating, "The senior, that dumped me."

"Oh," replied Usagi, surprised that the boyhood crush of Makoto's still held any weight with her. She had long ago stopped comparing men to him and compared them to Nephrite instead. Though she suspected that the two men had somehow merged into a composite of male perfection in Makoto's mind.

"I can't go in there," mouthed Makoto, and ran upstairs before Usagi could even attempt to stop her. Usagi reluctantly went back into the apartment by herself and smiled at the three men who gave her a questioning look.

"Sorry, Makoto had to run upstairs to put a cake in the oven. For catering," lied Usagi, cursing Makoto for putting her in this awkward position.

"Sounds like Makoto," laughed the other man and Mamoru gave him a strange look as they continued looking at the apartment.

"We used to date. If you could call it that, we were really only children," explained the man aside to Mamoru, while the super pointed out all the benefits of the apartment. Mamoru had to admit he was impressed with the place but the people who inhabited seemed to be even more intriguing.

Soon Mamoru found himself signing the lease to the apartment, and the super bid the three young people goodbye, happy to have filled the apartment with a good respectable tenant.

"So Mamoru, Usagi, how do you know Makoto?" Kal asked, curious to learn about his old girlfriend. He had always liked the independent Makoto, but had reluctantly dumped her after learning she was only 14. At seventeen three years was a big deal, especially to his friends who had teased him relentlessly.

"Makoto and I are roommates," replied Usagi, eyeing the first guy to get a response out of Makoto in years. Suddenly an idea popped into her head and before Mamoru could respond to Kal's question she butted in with, "And do you know that you made quite an impression on young Makoto? In fact it's a delight to finally meet you. You know what we should do? We should all get together down at the cafe for some coffee. Makoto's not working tonight and it'll give you guys a chance to catch up. Plus we can give my Mamoru here the real scoop on the apartment now that he's signed in and Makoto's made her 25 tenant introduction commission."

"Sounds good to me," agreed Kal, smiling at the scheming blonde, who looped her hand around Mamoru's arm in a seductively possessive manner in an attempt to distract him long enough to prevent him from ruining her plan. She quickly replied, "Great. We'll go up and fetch Makoto and meet you in the lobby in ten minutes," and with that she pulled Mamoru out of the apartment.

"Wha?" asked Mamoru, looking shocked at the devious vixen beside him. Well, she did grab his arm! And she was Motoki's girl! Suddenly Usagi dropped his arm like it was on fire and Mamoru felt somewhat less pleased than he had a moment ago despite his shock.

"Oh I'm sorry if you wanted to date Makoto," apologized Usagi, realizing that she had just crushed any designs Mamoru may have had on Makoto. Hopefully he wasn't too annoyed with her and would still go along with her plan. "But you didn't really have a chance with her anyway," she added before realizing that wasn't quite the thing to say to make Mamoru feel better. "I mean, she's not really into guys." Grr, that wasn't right either, "I mean, she is into guys. Well, to put it precisely, she's into exactly two guys. She dates other guys, but it's really just been the two. In fact I thought it was just the one, but then Kal shows up and you know, he might be the only one who can make her forget the other one, and I couldn't have you ruining that!" she ended dramatically.

Mamoru smiled at the babbling blonde. So maybe she had used extreme measures but it was obvious she cared deeply about her friend. 'And it was important to be a good friend, wasn't it?' his conscious nagged while the blonde continued with her speech.

"So I hope you don't mind joining us for coffee, but it's the only way I'll be able to get Makoto to meet up with him, she's too proud to go on her own," finished Usagi in a less excited tone thinking of the difficulties she would face convincing Makoto to go along with the plan.

"I don't mind, but do you think Motoki would mind?" asked Mamoru. He would like to think he asked the question because he was listening to his conscious and looking out for his friend, but in truth it was because he wanted to gauge exactly how close the arcade owner and his girlfriend really were.

"Why would Motoki mind?" asked Usagi, not able to comprehend what Mamoru was getting to at all.

"I don't know, it's kind of like, like a double date," replied Mamoru, feeling like an idiot for making such a big deal out of coffee with friends. To his embarrassment Usagi immediately started to laugh at him.

"Yeah, it's stupid," whispered Mamoru, turning red in the face.

"Oh no, it's not that," replied Usagi, controlling her laughter for a moment. "It's just, oh, the way I pulled you out of the apartment, like that. I mean, I did do it so Kal would think you were with me and not after Makoto. I mean, I wasn't coming onto you. You must of thought me terrible though, if you thought, that I'm.." she stopped babbling and once again started laughing as she declared, "Motoki's girl!" and went off into another peal of giggles. The horror and shame on Mamoru's face was just too priceless!

"You aren't?" asked Mamoru, completely baffled and extremely hopeful.

"Oh, I'm not. That's just something the shi... the boys made up to keep guys from flirting with me," she explained.

"Okay," replied Mamoru, and Usagi suddenly realized how odd that sounded. It wasn't exactly like she could add, 'because they want to keep me single for their mythical king' to explain it away.

"You remember Zoisite from the arcade?" she asked and Mamoru nodded in the affirmative. "He's my older brother and he's always been over protective. His friends sort of do it too though." she explained. It was truthful enough. Luna had found a way to alter memories and everyone, except the senshi and shitennou, truly believed that Zoisite was her older brother. It had allowed Zoisite to live a semi-normal life in Tokyo where had had finished high school two years ahead of Usagi. He had enjoyed the Tsukino home life and left it reluctantly to move into Kunzite's bachelor pad when the older shitennou married Minako.

"Wow, they're extreme," said Mamoru, overjoyed to hear that the lovely woman before him was single but baffled by the extreme measures of her friends to keep her that way. Some guy had probably hurt her badly once, and Mamoru could understand why that would make them protective of her. He felt like he wanted to protect her himself. "That must have been terrible in high school. But I'm sure some guys have been willing to risk crossing them for someone like you." When Usagi didn't reply he added offhandedly, "I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't attack a guy."

Mamoru visibly paled as Usagi didn't immediately affirm his statement. She actually seemed to be remembering something. In truth Usagi had been thinking of Diamond. 'And it was like they just forgot about their magical powers and went streetfighter on his ass!' Makoto had proclaimed to Luna after that particular event.

"Of course not," Usagi finally replied, suddenly feeling awkward. "We better be getting Makoto," she added. If she remained alone with Mamoru much longer she knew she would be in danger of reappraising the arrogant jerk as a charming and handsome. And she knew what that led to, just more impossible dreams of happily ever after.

End Chapter 2

Stay Tuned For Chapter 3 - Roommate and Other Bonding


	3. Chapter 3 Roommate and Other Bonding

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 3 - Roommate and Other Bonding**

"Usagi, I can't believe you did that!" screeched Makoto, before pulling her devious friend into a huge hug and jumping around the room. "I mean, I could just as easily be whelping you right now for putting me through the most embarrassing moments of my life."

"But you aren't!" beamed Usagi, pleased that their coffee meeting had gone so well. "Besides, nothing could possibly top the time you ran to a fight straight from the shower and ended up de-transforming into your birthday suit."

"I mean, he really liked me after-all," exclaimed Makoto, ignoring Usagi's comment as she continued to dance around the room. "And thought about me!" she added, before turning up the living room music and dancing to Minako's new single which she had earlier appraised as being too upbeat for her tastes.

"So did you guys make plans for another time?" asked Usagi slyly. She was dying to know what had happened after she and Mamoru left. They had snuck away on the pretence of Mamoru wanting to walk back to the arcade before Motoki left in order to beg for a spot on Motoki's couch before it was too late.

"I'm going to help him move into his new apartment," declared Makoto, babbling in her excitement, "And the good news is it's only 20 minutes by bus from here, he just wanted to be closer to his work so he could commute by bike."

"Romantic," replied Usagi, rolling her eyes.

Makoto rolled her eyes right back at Usagi, "Sure it's not my prince charming coming with golden slippers, but it's something," she asserted and the smile was suddenly wiped off of her face as her mind turned to other thoughts.

"I'm sorry," said Usagi, cursing herself for diverting Makoto from her happiness.

"Don't be, it's stupid really, spending so long mourning someone I never really knew, that I just have glimpses of memories of," responded Makoto. "I mean, I know there's no way he's coming back for me." 'He's not coming for me,' Makoto repeated in her head. It was hard to believe, that he was really gone. But even the power of the silver crystal couldn't bring back people who were long dead. Minako's attempts to resurrect Marilyn Munroe proved that if anyone ever had a doubt.

"Do you think Endymion will ever come for me?" asked Usagi, breaking Makoto out of her own thoughts. For the first time in forever Makoto didn't respond with an overwhelming 'yes'.

"What if he never comes Makoto?" asked Usagi, tears prickling at her eyes despite herself. She had always been the strong one, putting on a smile to comfort her friends, but in her friend's joy her own loneliness bore down on her.

"I don't know," replied Makoto, not sure what to say to her princess. Usagi had been so excited when she first learned about Endymion and Serenity, her heritage and her romance. She had expected Endymion to show up any day during their search for Jadeite. When they had finally found Jade Usagi had haunted the temple, much to the displeasure of Rei who was busy nursing Jade back to health. Each day Usagi hoped that when Jadeite was fully conscious he would be able to tell her something about where her prince could be found. But Jadeite got better without any news of Endymion.

"Mamoru asked me out," Usagi confided, relishing and cursing the moment when he had walked with her upstairs to her apartment to drop her off. He had asked if perhaps they could get together again, 'to try a more personal match'.

"What did you say?" asked Makoto, wondering if Mamoru had succeeded where Seiya had failed in getting her princess to put aside her devotion to her legendary lover. For as much as the shitennou were devoted to Endymion, Makoto knew that Usagi was just as dedicated, if not more so, despite her increasingly rebellious behaviour towards the match. It was just that Usagi was made to love and be loved, not merely spend her days waiting.

"I said that I sort of had someone," replied Usagi. She didn't tell Makoto that it hadn't been like most of her refusals of late. A simple thing that she laughed about later as if the gentleman should have known better than to ask her. This time it had felt like she was missing out, and when he had walked away it had been all she could do not to run after him.

"How did he take it?" asked Makoto. She and Usagi had a competition going to see which of them got the most amusing responses out of the males they refused.

"Really good," replied Usagi, and that made things even more difficult. He had just smiled at her and told her that he hoped he would see her again sometime. Then he had taken her hand and kissed it goodbye before walking away. And for that moment Usagi had felt like a schoolgirl, pledging never to wash that hand again. That in itself was amazing. Usagi had only ever been kissed three times before.

Her first kiss took place when she confessed to Motoki that she was Sailor Moon and he had kissed her in the back-room of the arcade. Unfortunately when the shitennou found out Motoki knew the truth they made sure he knew the whole truth and the arcade owner hadn't been up to competing with Endymion's memory. "I know you'll always be thinking of him," Motoki explained to Usagi, "And I just couldn't stand it. It would be too much like when I was in junior high and all these girls used to hang around with me just to get close to my friend Mamoru."

Usagi's second and third kisses came from more daring sources. The second had been a lingering kiss that turned into a goodbye, given to Seiya after the senshi, shittennou and starlights had defeated Galaxia. And the third was a stupid drunken kiss she had given to some enthusiastic guy at the girls' prom party. The final one had been provoked as a way to prove that she was interested in guys, because a rumour had spread across their high school that Usagi and Makoto were a couple.

Though all three kisses were very different, they all had something in common. The next day she had wished them undone.

"That's good I guess. Remember that guy who stalked you for months after you rejected him?" asked Makoto, trying to get Usagi's thoughts off Mamoru, not realizing that at that moment Usagi was marvelling how much easier things would be if she was in a relationship with Makoto.

"Yeah, that was awful. I wonder what ever happened to him?"

"Yeah, I wonder," replied Makoto, though she didn't really. She knew enough about what had happened. Zoisite had dressed up as Usagi and lured him into an alley. She could never be exactly sure what transpired in that alley, but the guy had come running out several minutes later and had never bothered Usagi again. Thankfully Usagi didn't question her about it because a buzz came from the downstairs lobby.

"That must be Minako for her cake," said Makoto as she hit the button to let her friend into the building. Minako had asked her to make a cake for her producer so he wouldn't be so angry at her for running out on her recording that day. Unfortunately Makoto's coffee date had distracted her and she had forgotten all about it until now.

A few seconds later Minako's quick staccato knocks were sounding on their apartment door. Usagi opened the door and her friend stalked into the room before throwing off the large hat and sunglasses she was wearing to hide her identity, or possibly attract more attention. "Hey girlies," she greeted them.

"Hey Minako," greeted Usagi, while Makoto rushed to get together all of the ingredients for her cake.

"Hey Usagi, where's Makoto?" she asked, but Usagi didn't bother responding because Minako spotted Makoto in the kitchen.

"You're just starting it?" asked Minako incredulously. It wasn't like Makoto not to be prompt and she had promised her the cake right away.

"Yeah sorry," mumbled Makoto as she pulled out her mixing bowl and started to throw ingredients together.

"No it's okay," said Minako with a knowing smile. "Can't expect a girl to have a cake done on time when she leaves with a gorgeous guy!"

Makoto and Usagi exchanged glances with one another, a move that Minako was quick to pick up on.

"Spill," she demanded. As the senshi of love she felt she had an all access pass to other's matters of the heart. "What did you and Mamoru do after the apartment showing?"

"We went for coffee," replied Makoto truthfully, not bothering to mention that they hadn't exactly gone alone or together.

"That's a good start," relented Minako. "He's so handsome. Though I can't help shaking the feeling that he would look so much more yummy if he would get contacts and not cover those gorgeous eyes. And he should grow his hair a little longer. The American style of men having such short hair spiked within an inch of its life is something I will never understand. I like Kunzite's long flowing hair; it makes him seem like a knight out of a dream."

"That's because he sort of is," pointed out Usagi, trying to imagine what Mamoru would look like as Minako described him.

"No matter, what I meant to say to Makoto is that this Mamoru is a real catch and all those small things are just details. So you better snag him up quickly before he goes out with coffee with someone else."

"Very true," agreed Makoto, "In fact, he's asked someone else out already," she added in mock sadness.

"What?" asked Minako, turning on her friend who was calmly breaking an egg into the cake mix. "You let him get away? Oh Makoto, you could at least try! I know things haven't been easy for you but I want to see you happy! Where is this other girl? I'll give her a piece of my mind! You don't let a guy that hot walk away with another girl!"

Makoto pointed at Usagi guiltily and the odangoed one prepared herself for the onslaught of Minako's rage of love.

"He asked out Usagi? Oh Usagi, why did you have to go with them?" bemoaned Minako.

"He was just so hot I couldn't help myself," replied Usagi, trying not to laugh at the tragic look on Minako's face.

"Oh Usagi, do be serious," Minako said condescendingly once she recovered from her initial shock. "You ought not to flirt so scandalously with men, we all know you're beautiful, you don't need random guys to tell you so," she lectured her friend.

"Minako did you ever think that I didn't do it for an ego boost?" spat out Usagi, much to Makoto and Minako's astonishment. Usagi never got annoyed with her princesses, Rei and Haruka excluding.

"Maybe I honestly just thought he was hot and wanted to drag him into a dark alley and do unmentionable things," she added with a sudden urge to scandalize Minako. Whether or not what she said was the truth was something Usagi did not want to examine very carefully.

"Usagi!" burst out both girls.

"What? I'm not allowed to think guys are hot? I'm not allowed to want a guy in my life... and in my bed?" she asked them, her indignant blue eyes daring them to answer.

"Not just any guy!" retorted Minako, before continuing softly, "Usagi, I know it must be hard for you, but you know that you should break your date with Mamoru."

"Why?" Usagi demanded.

"Because he's not Endymion," stated Minako, as if she was talking to a petulant child who was also a slow learner. It was bitterly obvious to Usagi that Minako was spending far too much time with her husband.

"So I'm just supposed to sit here and wait for Endymion forever?"

"He's your one Usagi," stated Minako, as if that settled everything. The goddess of love decreed it to be so, and so it should be.

"That's real easy for you to say," argued Usagi, "How long have you been with Kunzite? Seven years now?"

"I know it's hard Usagi, but we both know you love Endymion," said Minako, looking to Makoto to support her. But Usagi did not give Makoto time to agree one way or the other. "I don't know an Endymion," she hissed. "I don't know him at all. But you know what? You're right Minako, he is my one. The one who keeps me alone at night, the one who makes me cry every other night. The one who made me refuse Mamoru's date."

Minako looked sorrowfully at her friend who was desperately trying to keep herself from breaking down. Makoto went into the kitchen to grab a tissue for Usagi. But the moon princess didn't want their comfort. She just wanted to be away from them, away from her destiny and her shame for letting her innermost feelings out. Usagi bolted out the door and down the stairwell of her apartment without even knowing where she was running too. She was just running as fast as she could. Faster than she had run in junior high school when she was late for class. She ran until she was completely out of breath, and then collapsed on an empty bench in the park where she found herself. As she stared into the small ripples on the pond beside her she tried to forget who she was. Slowly a shadow materialized on the water.

"Usagi?" asked the distinctively male voice and she found herself looking up into the blue eyes of the gorgeous Mamoru. 'Those eyes' and for a moment a world opened to Usagi, but it just as quickly passed away again.

"Are you alright?" he asked, noticing that she looked as if she had been crying. It was a sharp contrast to the bubbling girl who he had sipped coffee with early and he hoped he hadn't upset her in any way.

"Oh, I'm fine, just needed to get out," she lied, turning her head away from Mamoru so she could wipe away any traces of her tears.

"Really?" asked Mamoru, not believing a word.

"Yes."

"Maybe you wouldn't mind showing me around Tokyo then?" he asked, nonchalantly offering Usagi his hand. "It's been so long since I've lived here I have no idea of the 'in' places to go."

"I don't know, this sort of sounds kind of like a date," joked Usagi, taking his offered hand in spite of herself. Why did things suddenly seem so much better with the simple prospect of walking around Tokyo with Mamoru? Why did she suddenly want to be herself and no one else?

"Oh not at all," mocked Mamoru as he pulled Usagi up off the bench, "I just asked you out earlier because I wanted to make sure Makoto knew there was no hope for her and I. I couldn't chance ruining things between her and Kal after-all your devious scheming. I wasn't coming on to you one insy tiny little bit. I was just trying to help out a friend."

"How disappointing," mused Usagi. "I was hoping we could try 'a more personal' match." She blushed at her words; the 'more personal match' had come out a bit more sultry than intended.

"I'm sorry I can't, I sort have somebody," finished Mamoru, letting go of Usagi's hand and letting it fall by her side.

"That's a bad excuse isn't it?" she asked looking down at her feet.

"Not really," replied Mamoru, thinking about how many times he had used a similar line on the girls who had plagued him for dates over the years.

"Well, since you're being so understanding I guess I could show you around," relented Usagi. "This is the park," she began in her best tour guide voice and Mamoru smiled at the return of the bubbly girl.

Mamoru and Usagi walked through the park first, and then around the block, happily joking and talking the whole time as Usagi pointed out the sights. Usagi felt like a normal girl for once, enlivened with the re-discovering of all the wonderful things surrounding her. Finally after walking a few more blocks and eating a few ice cream cones as Usagi couldn't decide which ice cream place was the best to properly advise Mamoru, they came to Usagi's salon. "That's my shop," she said pointing it out for Mamoru. "It's not very big, and maybe making things beautiful doesn't sound like much of a job to a doctor, but I love it."

Mamoru smiled at Usagi, he could tell she was passionate about what she did and needed him to understand its importance to her. She didn't need to convince him though. He had just come from the hospital where he had been inquiring about his residency and had noticed that many of the young girls in the children's oncology ward were wearing beautiful wigs. One of the doctors mentioned that they had been donated by 'a lovely young lady who always brings these girls spirits up tenfold when she visits.' Mamoru was about to relate this to Usagi when he noticed the something in the window of her shop. 'It's her' the voice inside his head screamed and he felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Usagi, that's a beautiful painting," he commented, trying to stay calm. "But there is only one problem with it," he added.

"What's that?" asked Usagi, slightly shocked. She had never gotten anything but compliments about the drawing. In fact most people who came into her shop immediately wanted to look like the moon princess.

"Someone so beautiful should never be painted alone."

End Chapter 3

Stay Tuned For Chapter 4 – A Gentleman's Lady


	4. Chapter 4 A Gentleman's Lady

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 4 – A Gentleman's Lady**

Usagi walked back into her apartment three hours after she had left. She was happy to see that Minako had taken her cake and gone home. She did not have the patience to deal with the love senshi's over done sympathies and reassurances that fairy tales came true.

"Usagi?" asked Makoto. She had just come out of the living room and was looking at her friend with an apologetic smile on her face. "Are you okay?" she inquired, crossing her hand across her chest signally that she was seriously concerned for her friend despite being dressed in sponge bob pyjamas.

"Yeah, I think so," Usagi replied.

"Good," Makoto said before adding, "Rei's here." And with that the fiery priestess came out of the living room to join them. She too was clad in pyjamas. Pyjama parties between the three of them were quite common, as Rei spent a lot of time visiting them in order to get away from the shrine. After her grandfather's death she found it too full of painful memories. She would escape to the girl's apartment in an attempt to escape those memories... or to escape Jadeite after a particularly bad blow-out. Usagi momentarily wondered which it was this time.

"I'm sorry Usagi," said Rei, and Usagi immediately realized that Rei was there for neither of those reasons. She had come because of her. "Minako's a bit of a flake." she added. Makoto had called Rei and told her what had happened; she was worried an errant princess in distress might do something stupid. Rei had told Makoto to merely leave Usagi alone until she decided to come home.

"It's okay, I'm fine now," asserted Usagi, not up to discussing everything, especially since she had agreed to join Mamoru for dinner the next day and she did not feel like defending her actions to her senshi. But she was glad that Rei was there, she couldn't really talk about how she felt to Makoto. How could she complain about having to wait, to someone who wished she had someone to wait for?

"You're lying," stated Rei calmly, her tone devoid of any anger or accusation. "It's not hard for me to tell you're worried about something."

"I'm going to go out with Mamoru," Usagi admitted. She could never hide things from Rei, no matter how hard she tried. The easiest thing would be to just admit it now.

"Good for you," said Rei, surprising all of them. But unlike Minako and Makoto, Rei had never reminded Usagi that her prince would come for her when she flirted with other boys. She had never aided Usagi's romanticized idea of Endymion at late night sleep-overs with the girls. She loved Jadeite but she loved her friends just as fiercely. And the two years they had spent looking for Jade had made Rei sceptical, and she often wondered if they were all deluding themselves if they thought Endymion would just one day run into them, introduce himself as their king and he and Usagi would fall madly in love. Heck if Endymion didn't remember anything of the moon kingdom he could be married with children by now. And if he did remember the moon kingdom and those long ago days, then he should 

of found them. What kind of man, what kind of king, wouldn't search for those he loved? And who could say that Beryl hadn't just killed him. The shittennou said she would never do that, that she had loved him. But Rei knew that there was nothing a woman scorned might not do.

"Really?" asked Usagi, surprised by Rei's comment. She knew Rei saw things slightly different from the others but there was a strong group loyalty to Endymion despite his absence.

"Of course. You're our princess Usagi and we want you to be happy. And if the boys don't like it than that's their problem." Rei smiled to herself, she would make sure to give Jadeite a piece of her mind later if he tried to ruin things for Usagi.

"Thanks Rei."

"No problem. But right now I think we have to have a good old fashioned pow-wow in the living room with lots of ice cream, because I want the scoop on Kal."

The three friends spent the night chatting, watching old movies and eating copious amounts of junk food before finally falling asleep sometime around 2 a.m. Rei got up early the next morning to head back to the shrine. She would never admit it but she missed Jade and wanted to get back before he woke up. Makoto did not wake up until 9 a.m when she jumped up quickly to get ready for work so she would be there by 10:30 to prepare for the lunch rush. She also needed time to beg one of the other chefs to switch shifts with her so she could be free that evening to help Kal move into his new apartment.

Several hours later Usagi yawned lazily, opening her eyes to find herself alone in the living room surrounded by a pile of candy wrappers. She wandered into her bedroom and pulled out the wigs she had been working on the day before. She didn't have any bookings until 3, and she was confident Malara could handle the walk in clients by herself until then. Usagi carefully pulled the hair through the mesh netting to prepare her luxurious 'Sailor Moon' wigs. She wondered to herself how much money she could have netted for the two she had made with her very one locks if people had known they were made from genuine Sailor Moon hair. Usagi's mind drifted as she worked and she noticed with a surprise that she wasn't uneasy about her date with Mamoru. In fact if she didn't know better she would say she was even excited. Her mind drifted to him and she wondered what he was doing right now?

Mamoru smiled at the small child playing with the Sailor Moon doll in the waiting room. "Do you believe in Sailor Moon mister?" asked the child and Mamoru found he answered 'yes' despite himself. He had spent years denying her existence. Well, not Sailor Moon's existence exactly, more like an event that had happened to him many years before.

It must have been at least six years ago now, six years in which he had convinced himself it was just another one of his dreams. Only he hadn't been asleep. He had seen a woman begging her friends to help her, a beautiful woman with angelic wings, and he could tell by her eyes that this was the same princess who haunted his dreams. She was asking for help to defeat an enemy. And as if that illusion hadn't been odd enough he had found himself suddenly wearing a tuxedo, top hat, mask and holding unto a rose feeling as if all the energy he could muster was flowing out of him towards her.

He had tried especially hard to block out incident and regard it as nothing more than a stressed out student's hallucination. But when he had seen a picture of Eternal Sailor Moon four years later the long repressed memory surfaced with a vengeance. Could his dream woman actually be real? That was the question that had haunted him so intensely it had forced his return to Tokyo. But now he was here and it was not Sailor Moon that he found himself drawn to but Usagi. Usagi who had the picture of the woman of his dreams in her shop window. Usagi who did Sailor Moon hairstyles. Was he attracted to her simply because she reminded him of her? Or was it possible that she was... Mamoru shoved the idea out of his head. He would see what happened on their date tonight. He still needed to get through five more hours of his shift that had begun at 7 a.m. that morning.



Luckily for Mamoru the next five hours went relatively smoothly and he was able to leave the hospital almost on time. As he changed out of his scrubs and pulled on his dark black sweater he silently hoped he did not smell too badly of hospital. He would have liked to go home and shower but he was to meet Usagi at her shop at 6:30 p.m. sharp. That and he didn't officially have a place until that night. Plus he had the feeling that if he was even a minute late she might think better of their date. She was so timid, but it made sense for her to be careful if she was... No, he would bury that thought, even if their chemistry did mimic how he felt in his dreams.

"Usagi?" said Mamoru as he walked into her beauty shop to find the petite blond busy finishing up a manicure. She mouthed to him that she would be with him in 10 minutes and he took a seat, feeling out of place in the very feminine building. Fortunately Usagi finished up quickly and after a few awkward greetings they were on their way to the restaurant. The restaurant they had decided on was just a few blocks away, and as it was a sunny day outside so they made the mistake of deciding to walk instead of taking the bus.

"I had a fun time yesterday," Usagi admitted, trying to think of anything to talk about as they walked side by side along the sidewalk. The previous evening when they had just walked around the city as friends of a friend things had been so easy. But now Usagi felt so shy and tense she was unsure how to act around Mamoru. She had never felt so tongue tied before in her life, and the fact that the narrow sidewalk made them periodically bump into each other when another person passed by didn't help.

"Me too," replied Mamoru, suffering from the same affliction as Usagi with the added problem that he was trying to compare her to his dreams. He was too nervous to look straight into her eyes to confirm that they still looked as similar to his dream woman as they had seemed yesterday evening. Her hair was definitely shorter, and slightly permed though. But her eyes wouldn't lie would they?

The silence settled over both of them as they continued to steal glances at each other, both quickly looking away before the other could catch them doing it. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this dating thing," Mamoru admitted sheepishly.

"Me neither," agree Usagi, looking up into Mamoru's eyes. If she just looked into those eyes long enough... but instead of following her impulse she quickly looked down at her feet. She couldn't let him see the invitation in her eyes. She felt that if he did see, and he went ahead and kissed her then she would completely give up waiting for her destiny.

"That surprises me," Mamoru stated, wishing she would look up at him like that again. "I'd assume you would have lots of offers for dates on a Saturday night."

"I had a few offers," stated Usagi, though the few had been closer to dozens, "But I never really wanted to date anyone."

"How come?" asked Mamoru, hoping Usagi would reveal more about herself. Certainly if she was Sailor Moon it would explain why her friends were so protective of her and why she would be cautious of people. Mamoru hoped that was her secret, because if she was Sailor Moon then he felt like he held some claim on the elusive girl. That and he did not like the idea that someone might have hurt Usagi to make her so timid.

"None of them were the right guy," Usagi replied and then immediately blushed when she realized Mamoru might assume he was the right guy.

"You're right to wait for the treasure you deserve," replied Mamoru, surprised to see Usagi look up at him suddenly. But her eyes were no longer those of a woman falling for him, but one who looked guilty and torn, and slightly annoyed with him. Mamoru hoped she didn't think he had a big enough ego to consider himself a treasure. But underneath it all Mamoru noticed there was pain in her eyes. Pain that he hated to see. Without thinking about it he took her hand and squeezed it. It felt as if she 

was going to shake his hand off at first, but she relented. The two continued to the restaurant silently, simply walking and holding hands. Mamoru wondered if they would remain silent all the way to the restaurant when he looked up to see a group of guys pointing at him.

"Look," declared Jadeite, pointing at the couple. Rei had told him about their date and he had summoned the rest of the shittennou to 'rescue' Usagi from the predicament. "And she's holding his hand!" declared Jade in a scandalized voice.

"That whore!" mocked Zoisite.

"Hey, that's more than he gets from Rei," added Kunzite sarcastically to Zoisite.

"Ha ha you guys," replied Jadeite, "But this is no time for jokes." While Kunzite and Zoisite did not like seeing Usagi with another man they both felt deep down she would remain loyal to Endymion. She just needed a good shove in the right direction sometimes. It was only Jadeite who really considered the possibility that Usagi could actually fall in love with someone else. This was most likely due to the fact that on several occasions Rei had told him that in no certain terms was he to rely on their past life to keep her, and that the shittenou and senshi were more likely tied together by being the only people in Tokyo with superpowers than by some age old romance that the blossom had long ago fell off.

"Who was joking?" asked Zoisite, smiling at his friend. But Jadeite did not respond. He and Kunzite had already quickened their paces toward Usagi and Mamoru to put mission 'stop date' into effect.

"Usagi, fancy meeting you here," greeted Jadeite carelessly, and Usagi found herself quickly removing her hand from Mamoru's.

"Yeah, fancy that," she replied, glaring at Jadeite, hoping for once he would just back off.

"And what are you doing here?" asked Kunzite sternly. He always felt that the best strategy was to shame Usagi out of the date. It was a strategy that had worked many times in the past. Well, in the not so distant past. Thousands of years ago when he had tried the same strategy on Endymion after he first got tangled up with the Moon Princess it hadn't gone so well. Though that could be attributed to the fact that Kunzite's arguments lost all credibility after Endymion found him making out with the pixyish Venusian.

"I'm going on a date," she replied curtly. She was about to reclaim Mamoru's hand, but then thought better of it. He had nice hands, and a physician needed the use of them.

"And you think you can date her why?" Zoisite asked Mamoru. While Kunzite played the shame game, he preferred the overprotective older brother routine.

"Because she said I could," replied Mamoru nonchalantly.

"But did we give you permission?" added Jadeite, walking up to Mamoru and staring him in the face menacingly. As far as anyone knew, he didn't have a strategy.

"I think she's old enough to make her own decisions," replied Mamoru calmly.

"Yeah, but she's still my little sister," said Zoisite, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring at Mamoru threateningly.

"A lot of girls are somebody's little sister," he replied.



The three men shot each other glances. They must be off their game; no guy had ever stood up to them as calmly as this Mamoru guy. They were the legendary shittenou, guardians of the royal heir of Earth, nobody stood up to them like that.

"Now gentlemen, if you don't mind we'll be on our way," said Mamoru, taking the shocked Usagi's hand as he led her past the group of guys.

That's when Jadeite decided to step their routine up an act. "So, do you often pick up pretty girls?" he asked. Mamoru merely ignored his comment and continued walking. However Jadeite continued with his harassment as well, "Because we all love Usagi, but she's not the most intellectual type. So I'm figuring a smart guy like you, with a girl like Usagi, there's only one thing you want."

"To protect her from creeps who pose as her friends but do nothing but embarrass her?" retorted Mamoru, turning to Jadeite angrily. The beautiful blonde had winced at Jadeite's words and Mamoru couldn't let that go, even if he knew they were just trying to goad him into a fight.

"Protect her? From us? You have got to be kidding me!" scoffed Zoisite. Though he did look at Jadeite angrily. They all knew Usagi was sensitive about her less than stellar academics and often bemoaned how she could ever be a fitting queen. It was low of Jadeite to use that against her.

Mamoru was about to respond but instead Kunzite cut in, "What makes you think we're not protecting you from her? Trust me; any relationship with her is doomed."

"He's got a point!" chimed in Zoisite. Mamoru's curiosity couldn't help but be piqued by their words. What could the beautiful Usagi possibly do to him? Was this proof that she was as powerful as he thought she was?

"Yeah, trust me buddy, our pr..." but in that moment Jadeite caught himself from declaring Usagi their princess. You could never be too careful. But in the heat of the moment there was only one word that came to his head that could stifle his mistake, "Our prostitute would eat you for dinner."

Kunzite and Zoisite looked at Jadeite with a mix of shame and pride. To call Usagi such a thing was deplorable, and yet it was the perfect way to get rid of would-be suitors. Jadeite sensed this too and continued his charade. "So if you don't have the pimp price you better be on your way. Nobody gets a free ride." He certainly wouldn't be when Rei found out about this.

Mamoru looked at Jadeite in confusion. It couldn't possibly be the truth, could it? He barely noticed that he had let go of Usagi's hand while his head rushed to put evidence into place. Their determination to keep her single, they way Motoki had claimed to be her boyfriend, Usagi saying she sort of had someone. The pain in her eyes, her timidity. It made so much more sense than his crazy dreams and wishes his logical mind pointed out.

"Is it true?" he asked, turning to the beautiful woman beside him. 'Just deny it' he thought savagely in his head. It may have made sense, but he also knew it was completely ridiculous too.

Usagi starred back at Mamoru. How could he ask her that? A few moments before she had been willing to take a chance with him, to throw away Endymion. How silly that seemed now, to risk her one and only for a guy who could believe she was a prostitute. 'Baka' her mind screamed at him. "Yes, it's true," she whispered spitefully, tears forming in her eyes. "So you better leave," she warned him, glaring fully into his eyes.

The glare pierced Mamoru and suddenly he had the desire to fight against her request. He wanted to tell her he'd save her from anything, to tell her he would take care of her, to tell her she was a stupid girl. To tell her that when she looked at him like that he knew without a doubt she was the woman in his dreams. But for some reason he just walked away.



End Chapter 4

Stay Tuned For Chapter 5 – Reconnaissance Fair


	5. Chapter 5 Reconnaissance Fair

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life. The song used is 'Romeo and Juliet' by Dire Straits.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 5 – A Day at the Reconnaissance Fair**

"He did what?" bellowed Rei, and Jadeite quickly looked for somewhere safe to hide. Perhaps he could climb the tree that was off to his left, or he could hide under the table where the love chimes were being displayed openly so eager school girls would buy them, or he could run into the park and jump into the lake. But before he could even take a step towards a safer haven Rei came marching outside where he had been busy sweeping up the shrine steps moments before.

"Jadeite, I was just talking to Makoto on the phone," Rei announced, her voice deadly calm.

"Really," answered Jadeite, trying to remain casual as he continued sweeping the floor.

"And do you know what she told me?" asked Rei her voice slowly working its way into an annoyed tone.

"No idea," mumbled Jadeite nervously, while trying to play it cool. For some reason he felt that if he acted like what he did wasn't out of the ordinary Rei might suddenly have an epiphany and see things the same way as he did.

"She told me that she had to break her date with Kal last night," she announced.

"Oh," replied Jadeite, the terror in his heart starting to subside. Rei was just mad about Kal! Any guy that dared hurt her friends was immediately put on Rei's hit list. She had even taken a fork to Zoisite once because she had found unfamiliar feminine clothing in his possession. She would have left a few holes in him too, but after a few jabs he got it through to her that the clothes were just a decoy of his. Luckily for him, Makoto had shown up and backed up his story.

"Do you know why she had to break her date with Kal?" asked Rei, looking closely at Jade for his reaction. Unfortunately for Jadeite, he didn't catch the look in his girlfriend's eyes.

"No," replied Jadeite, ready for Rei to go into full outrage mode with a rant about Kal and his crappy behaviour towards Makoto.

"Because she was concerned for Usagi," Rei said instead. "And do you know why she felt that she had to take care of Usagi?"

Without even hesitating long enough to drop the broom he was holding, Jadeite took off running down the street. He ran as fast as he possibly could but he knew it was only a matter of time before Rei would catch up with him. He bolted into the busiest section of downtown Tokyo, dodging cars in a desperate attempt to try and loose his raging girlfriend. But no luck, the priestess was slowly gaining on him. As his breath began to come in gasps he knew that any moment his body would force him to stop and take a proper breath. 'The Crown' he thought as he raced towards the building's outline. When he finally arrived he hastily used his broom to pry open the door before throwing himself at the counter seats, hoping that Motoki would take pity on him as he threw away the broom and made like a runner sliding into home plate.

"Jadeite," came a steely voice and he looked up to see Usagi sitting at the seat next to him. He also noticed that Motoki was giving him an angry glare, and that Rei had just entered the Crown. '!#!#!' he thought. From the frying pan into the fire.



"Hey Usagi," said Jadeite meekly, smiling at the petite blonde sheepishly. "You wouldn't hold a grudge would you?" he asked. If Usagi didn't want him dead than hopefully Rei wouldn't see any reason to kill him. Just let her say that she was grateful that he had saved her from that arrogant jerk. And let Rei hear it!

Usagi glared at Jadeite and put another mouthful of the triple chocolate fudge and brownie nut sundae into her mouth. Oh crap, that meant she was really pissed this time. "I mean that Mamoru guy was a jerk anyway. I kept you away from a jerk! You should be thanking me," he said, preparing to get down and beg at Usagi's feet.

"Yes, and if it was only Mamoru who heard you, things would not be so bad. But you had to declare that I was a prostitute right out there on the street. I've been propositioned twice this morning," hissed Usagi, reliving the embarrassment. She had given both men a sound slap on the cheek but she still felt dirty about the whole thing. Though their words had not even touched her half the way Mamoru's had. She must be insane to let a guy she barely knew get to her so badly. But then he had gotten to her way back when she was a school girl too.

"Really? By who, I'll go kick their asses right now," said Jadeite, temporarily forgetting the threat to his own life in a burst of guilt and vengeance. But before he could stand up fully from his crouching position Rei shoved him roughly into his seat.

"Jade, honey, explain to me exactly why you felt it was necessary to call Usagi a prostitute?" she asked sweetly, sickeningly sweetly.

"It was an accident, really. I was gonna say, that she was, our 'you know'... but I caught myself and I just, I wasn't thinking and that's what I said," defended Jadeite quickly, knowing he only had seconds to get out his story. Rei pondered his words for a moment and he began to hope that for once his girlfriend would believe him. But then Motoki decided to jump in with the damning evidence, "So, if that part was just a mistake then why did you pretend to be her pimp and tell Mamoru that 'no one gets a free ride'?" pointed out Motoki.

"You said what?" asked Rei, wondering how she could be in love with someone who was so incredibly stupid and vile and stupid and poopy headed!

"Well, I just wanted to get rid of the Mamoru guy, and I'd already said it, so I thought I might as well..."

"Stick your foot even deeper into your mouth?" finished Rei, glaring at Jadeite.

"Well, Mamoru was being queer," protested Jadeite, sounding like a little kid who got caught in a lie. And it was true! Mamoru hadn't been cooperating. Every other self-respecting guy would have bolted or declared Usagi too much work long before prostitution had to be brought up.

"He was being queer? He was being queer?" repeated Rei. "Did you ever stop to think that you were the one being queer? Trying to stop a 22 year old woman from going on a date with a nice respectable guy."

"She's got someone. And he's gonna be better than respectable," defended Jadeite. But this time there was more conviction in his tone.

"Really? See, I find that hard to believe," countered Rei. "And do you know why? Because that's what they told me about you!" Rei sat down beside Jadeite as if her words were the final say on the argument and all that had to be done now was to come up with a suitable punishment.

"Someone had to be the wingman," mumbled Jadeite. Rei glared at him, "And it was obviously you," he supplied.

"So Usagi, how do you think we should punish him?" asked Rei, and her blonde friend smiled at her, but Rei could tell her heart wasn't in formulating devious plans today. Oh well, she could think of a good punishment for Jadeite on her own. In fact, she had one that just might fit the crime.

"Come on girls, be reasonable," he protested. It was bad enough that the guys treated him like a stupid little kid; he didn't need it from the girls too.

"Oh don't worry Jadeite. The fair is coming to town tomorrow and all I ask is that you go with me," decreed Rei, "And I'll even pay so you can get that mythical free ride," she adding with a smug smile.



Jadeite looked at his girlfriend in shock. If her malice hadn't been directed towards him he would have been proud, heck he was proud anyway. She knew that he hated the fair, and furthermore he knew that he was terrified of the rides. Rei on the other hand loved them; she could ride on the most stomach killing rides and just come off exhilarated. She had dragged him to an exhibition when they were first dating and after several smaller rides she had somehow convinced him to go on the ferris wheel. But not just the normal ferris wheel, the caged ferris wheel, with seats which would go upside down when you were almost a mile off the ground, or when you were inches from the ground. Since it was early on in their relationship and he wanted to impress her, and didn't want her to realize how scared he truly was, he gathered up his courage and went on with her. Big mistake. In all fairness he had been fine, fine until someone else on the ferris wheel wasn't, and he was the lucky person to be directly under said person. Somehow Rei had remained completely puke free and the brunt of it had gotten on him. Miraculously his stomach stayed together until he was let off the ride. But he had spent the next 10 minutes barfing over the side of the fence while the Carney's sprayed him with a hose. He hadn't been to the fair since.

"A fair doesn't sound like much of a punishment," commented Usagi. "I have a lot of fun at fairs." Rei had been the sweet girlfriend and promised to tell no one what had happened that day. He could just imagine what the guys would say if they knew about it.

"Then you should come with us," offered Rei. It would give Rei no end of pleasure to see Jadeite pretend he wasn't scared because Usagi was there, and hopefully the fair would get Usagi's mind off of her ruined date. No such luck however, because at that moment no other than the infamous Chiba Mamoru walked into the crown.

Mamoru looked horror stricken at the group of people who stood between him and Motoki. "I just came to get the rest of my stuff," he mumbled to Motoki, not meeting the eyes of the other people present.

"Oh right," replied Motoki, remembering that Mamoru had forgotten a few things behind last night while he was packing. Motoki had offered to bring them to the arcade so Mamoru could pick them up quickly. "Just one moment, I have to grab your stuff from the back room," he said before running back to find them quickly.

Mamoru stood there wishing Motoki hadn't taken off so fast; he would have gladly gone with him to get his bags. Instead he was stuck standing there feeling foolish and responsible once again for an awkward silence settling over them. While they waited both he and Rei stole glances at Usagi to see how much his presence was upsetting her. Rei expected to see hatred outlined on her friend's face, but instead she was surprised to see a sad wistful look. It was obvious that she still sort of wanted to date him. 'Usagi probably let him go too easily,' Rei thought to herself. Sometimes it was just easier to lie down than put your heart on the line. Rei knew Usagi was strong for her friends, but why wasn't she ever that strong for herself? Rei found herself suddenly annoyed with Usagi for taking the crap from the guys, for not being more assertive. Maybe she just needed a push.

"So you didn't have enough money?" asked Rei, breaking the silence and earning everyone's attention.

"Huh?" asked Mamoru, looking at the girl shocked.

"You couldn't afford her," said Rei, and Mamoru was unsure whether it was a statement or a question.

"Rei!" hissed Usagi angrily, as Jadeite just looked at his girlfriend shocked and Mamoru tried to come up with some defence of himself.

"Because she's definitely worth it, I mean, you have seen her right?" continued Rei. In the meantime Motoki had come back with two bags of Mamoru's, but he forgot about them as he listened to Rei talk. "You could at least make an offer. Just think about it as you watch her lick her ice cream..."

"Rei," came another hiss, but this time it was from Jadeite when he saw that Mamoru was considering Rei's words. "Stop it, I get that what I did wasn't cool," he added. Surely Rei must be trying to punish him.

"No, it's cool," replied Mamoru with a small smirk on his face. He pulled out his wallet and handed Rei all the money contained therein. It only amounted to about 46 dollars and fifty cents but it got the attention of the group.

"I hope you don't expect much for 46 dollars," spat out Usagi, trying to look annoyed externally while internally she tried to deny the fact that she was oddly happy about the insulting situation.



"Well, see those two heavy bags Motoki is carrying? It would be great if you could carry one back to the apartment with me," stated Mamoru in a cocky and commanding tone. It amazed him, sometimes he got such bursts of confidence he felt like he owned the world.

"You have high hopes," marvelled Usagi.

"Usagi, for 46 bucks you should be carrying both bags," cut in Rei. The blonde girl looked at her friend in surprise but Rei merely glared back. She was about to protest, to tell both Rei and Mamoru she wasn't for sale. But then she caught Jadeite's eye. He would hate it if she went with Mamoru, besides she had to walk home anyway. Obviously those were the only reasons she was going along with this. She didn't think Mamoru was hot or anything like that.

"Fine then let's go," agreed Usagi as she grabbed the lighter bag out of Motoki's arms and made her way out of the arcade. Jadeite looked after Usagi in horror as Mamoru grabbed the other bag in shock and ran after her. Usagi was walking briskly and Mamoru didn't catch up to her until they reached the door to his apartment and she had to wait for him to unlock it.

"I would like these bags to go in my bedroom," said Mamoru as he opened the apartment door, allowing Usagi to walk in with the duffle bag.

"You know I'm not really a prostitute right?" asked Usagi, slightly apprehensive considering where Mamoru was ushering her.

"Really? Too bad," said Mamoru wistfully, and Usagi turned around to stare at him. "I mean, I figured that you weren't."

"I see, and when did you figure that out," she asked sarcastically.

"Well, when I actually had time to think about it, I found that it didn't make any sense. You have good friends, a good business that you own, and your" Mamoru paused for a second, he couldn't exactly say she was probably a super hero, "much too innocent looking," he added instead.

"I see," replied Usagi, silently cursing his intended compliment. She didn't like the idea that her innocence was proclaimed to the world with one easy look.

"But that doesn't change the fact that I paid 46 and I don't think I got my money's worth yet," joked Mamoru as he sat down at his bed and patted it for Usagi to sit down beside him.

"You do have high hopes," she mused, but she sat down beside him none the less. He mustn't think her so innocent, even if it was the truth.

"With reason," he replied, pausing at Usagi's confused look before continuing, "You didn't just throw my bag at the door when you got here," he added, and Usagi had to admit he had a point. She should have just run upstairs to her own apartment. Why hadn't she?

"What do you want then?" she challenged, not bothering to argue with him.

"I was hoping maybe we could reschedule our first date?" he asked hopefully.

Usagi smiled to herself at his simple request, and yet part of her was oddly disappointed that was all he wanted. "I'm going to the fair tomorrow with Rei and Jadeite, maybe you could come along?" she offered without giving it much thought. She was actually going to give this guy another chance? Why didn't she hate him like she had last night?

"That sounds like fun, I'm working at the hospital until 8 p.m. tomorrow night though," replied Mamoru, trying to play it cool, trying not to get up and dance because his dream woman was giving him another chance.

"Oh, that's okay; we won't be going until the later evening anyway. Why don't you just meet us there?" offered Usagi, trying to mimic Mamoru's nonchalant attitude.



"What if I can't find you?" asked Mamoru. He and Motoki had gone to the fair together when they were 14 and had gotten separated. It had taken the guys three hours to find each other again. Though part of that may have been due to the fact he needed to transform into Tuxedo Mask.

"Then consider it a sign," replied Usagi. She stood up to leave, but Mamoru grabbed her hand, "I'm sorry," he said simply.

"Me too," she replied sitting back down on the bed. "My friends must seem like real nut jobs to you," she added with a bitter little laugh.

"No, they just want to protect you," replied Mamoru. "Though they are a bit extreme." Despite everything her friends had done Mamoru couldn't help but like them. It had been cool hanging out with them that first day when he had gotten back. Though he did wish they wouldn't give him such a hard time about Usagi.

"Yeah.. well.." Usagi paused for a moment and then steeled herself to continue. "They think I should be with someone else," she admitted.

"Really?" asked Mamoru as Usagi tried to figure out how to explain things to Mamoru without explaining things. She took a deep breath and spilled out her story quickly, "See, there was this guy that I dated and he was a really good friend of the guys. And then, well, umm, he moved away. Far away, but they still think he's coming back. And they think that once he does we will live happily ever after," explained Usagi.

Mamoru looked at Usagi in surprise. He had hoped they were protective of her because she was Sailor Moon. But of course there would be another guy with someone as amazing as Usagi, whether she was a super heroine or not. He just hoped that the feelings were more on the part of the guys, and not Usagi's own. "And how do you feel?" he asked tentatively.

"I used to think they way they do. That he'd come and we'd live happily ever after," said Usagi, almost in a whisper.

"And now?"

"Now I'm not so sure," she replied as she stood up again hoping Mamoru did not notice her tears. Mamoru got up as well and walked the petite blond out of his apartment.

**The Next Evening**

"What about Jadeite?" asked Usagi as Rei pulled her friend out of the fair's food court. Rei was in a hurry as she hadn't anticipated how long Usagi would take during her meal. "He had to go to the washroom," replied Rei with a smirk as she began pulled Usagi along with her, "But I told him to meet us at the stage."

"What stage?" asked Usagi. She looked around the fair grounds; there were a lot of rides, people and game booths, but no stages.

"It's over there," pointed Rei in the direction they were walking. "Under the big tent, with music coming from it."

"It doesn't sound that good," commented Usagi, wondering why Rei was so insistent on going there.

"That's because it's karaoke," explained Rei, her voice full of excitement.

"Karaoke?" asked Usagi apprehensively.

"Yes, and I signed us both up!" she exclaimed as she begin walking even faster towards the stage.

"Please tell me you're kidding?"

"No, I'm not kidding," declared Rei. She had hoped Usagi would be excited about the karaoke when she had hurriedly signed them up for one of the few open time slots which were back to back. The consideration that Usagi 

may not enjoy the activity had crossed her mind but Rei had dismissed it. Even if she didn't like the activity it would be a good activity to braven her up for Mamoru.

"But I'm gonna make a fool of myself," moaned Usagi. It was easy enough for Rei to sign herself up, she was a good singer, but dragging her into it was just cruel.

"Oh everyone makes a fool of themselves," argued Rei, "That's the point."

"You won't," mumbled Usagi, but Rei caught her words. "Oh I might. You don't get to choose your song, the emcee has a random list and he won't tell you what you are singing. I walked by earlier and there was a twelve year old girl singing AC/DC."

Rei and Usagi got to the stage just in time to hear the emcee call out Rei's name. She smiled at Usagi and ran onto the stage hoping she would get lucky with a song she could really belt out, but to her horror and Usagi's pleasure it was announced that she would be signing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts." Usagi laughed blissfully through the whole song and barely noticed the handsome man who had pulled up next to her. "Hi," he whispered into her ear and Usagi felt all the hairs on her back stand up. It wasn't a bad sensation though, she felt like she had become suddenly more alive for some reason. "Hi," she whispered back. But the moment to themselves was quickly interrupted by a very embarrassed wannabe idol that was more than ready to let her friend replace her on stage. "Your turn," she said to Usagi, not even bothering to reassure her that it wouldn't be that bad.

"Poor Usagi, you've got a tough act to follow," joked Mamoru. Usagi turned to him and mocked the actions Rei had unwittingly made up to go along with her song. Mamoru soon found himself doubled over with Usagi, the two of them laughing heartily. Unfortunately that didn't sit too well with the priestess.

"Really? I think you ought to help her out then," countered Rei, glaring at Mamoru. Sure Usagi could laugh at her, they were friends, but how dare he! Mamoru was about to retort that he wasn't going to make a fool of himself like others had done, when he noticed that Usagi, who was already making her way timidly to the stage, was looking at him hopefully. "I would love it if you did," she simply said and Mamoru suddenly felt himself torn.

"You better go to her," said Rei and Mamoru merely nodded at her. As he turned around to follow Usagi up the stairs a feeling of deja vu overcame the Martian Princess.

_"Are you going to marry Serenity?" she demanded, while he just looked at her guiltily. "Answer me," she repeated, this time a little bit louder._

_"Yes, once things settle down I'm going to marry her," he declared, not meeting her eyes._

_"What about Beryl?" she hissed at him._

_"I can't marry her," he replied._

_"You can't? You can't?" she bellowed. "That's rich, you break off our arrangement so you could marry her, so your people won't rebel over you marrying a Martian, and yet you can marry the Moon Princess?"_

_"You know it was just an arrangement with us, but with Serenity, I love her," he said, pleading with the Princess of Mars to understand._

_"You love her? Then don't risk her life over this," she bit out, "Don't you realize the scandal this is going to cause."_

_"No more than marrying you would have," marvelled Endymion._

_"But your people only disliked me because I am loyal to Serenity," she shot back._

_"Yes, but how do you think they would have felt when they realized their Queen was sleeping with a member of the Royal Guard?" he asked her. She was about to make a retort but a voice could be heard calling from another part of the castle._

_"You better go to her," she relented. The prince nodded, glad that she understood as he went to find his love._

Rei blinked away the memory and looked at the couple up on the stage who were timidly warming up to the song they had been given. Rei gave Usagi an encouraging smile, despite the fact that her mind was whizzing out a million thoughts. She needed to calm her excitement and think rationally. It couldn't be? He couldn't be? Did he know? She tried to push away the thoughts as ridiculous, but by the time she was able to focus on the song it was almost over.

_And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be_

_All do is keep the beat and bad company_

_All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme_

_Julie I'd do the stars with you any time_

_Juliet when we made love you used to cry_

_You said I love you like the stars above I'll love you till I die_

_There's a place for us, you know the movie song_

_When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong...Juliet ? _

_A love-struck Romeo sings a streetsus serenade_

_Laying everybody low with me a lovesong that he made_

_Finds a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade_

_Says something like you and me babe how about it?_

_You and me babe, how 'bout it?_

Usagi smiled at Mamoru and took his hand as they shyly took a bow to appease their amazed audience. Usagi felt that the credit was all Mamoru's; he had put a lot of effort into the song while she had merely joined him on the occasional chorus. It almost seemed like he had put part of his soul into the song as well and Usagi wondered if there was a girl somewhere along the line whom had hurt him. He must have loved her very much. 'But he's moving on,' a voice in Usagi's head urged.

Rei looked at her smiling princess, and as the crowd clapped for the amazing couple the doubts in her head fell away. She merely had to look at the way Usagi was looking at him. 'Where was Jadeite?' her mind screamed suddenly, she had to tell him, not only was it incredibly exciting good news but it was also gloat worthy! Without thinking she turned around and began to run in the direction of the bathrooms. She never supposed that the couple in front of her had not yet realized what she had. But where was Jadeite?

"Jadeite," came a strong voice and Jade was surprised to see Kunzite and Zoisite standing behind him.

"You guys come for the fair?" he asked, confused by their presence. Well, he understood Zoisite but Kunzite would never come to a place like this willingly without being dragged by his wife.

"No, we found out that Usagi's here with that Mamoru guy and you're not doing anything about it," growled Zoisite. "Where are they?" asked Kunzite, cutting to the chase, he didn't want to spend more time in this dusty and dirty atmosphere than he had too. "I don't know," lied Jadeite, not daring to lead his friends to Rei and Usagi. They would really murder him then. Instead he led the two men off in the opposite direction in search of the happy couple who were busy standing in line to buy more tickets for the rides.



"Let's ride the roller coaster," declared Usagi, taking Mamoru's arm and smiling up at him. 'Anything you want' his mind complied, and he really felt that he would do anything to make her forget that other guy, the one who had left her. So he let Usagi pull him to the roller coaster line. He was about to ask her not to make fun of him if he squealed like a schoolgirl when suddenly they heard a ghastly scream from the ride next to them.

Usagi looked up and saw a twelve year old girl dangling from the top of the caged ferris wheel. The door to her cage must have snapped open and she was clinging to the open door, screaming with all her might. The safety mechanism for the ride must have stopped it once the door had opened and the girl was trapped at the top with her friend who was braced precariously inside the cage. She wondered how long they could hold on, but she knew the answer. Not long at all.

"I have to go get help," stated Usagi, not able to think of a better excuse as she took off into the crowd. She ran as fast as she could and hid behind a few of the tents and trailers as she transformed into Sailor Moon.

The shittenou felt the power in the air that was indicative of a sailor senshi's transformation. They ran as fast as they could towards it, ready to help if needed. They got there in time to see Usagi's wings form as she took off quickly towards the trapped children.

Mamoru stared in amazement at Sailor Moon's transformation and felt elated that Usagi was who he thought she was. He was about to make his way back towards the ferris wheel to watch the rescue, but before he could take a single step he found himself surrounded by three very angry men.

End Chapter 5

Stay tuned for Chapter 6 - The King and His Men


	6. Chapter 6 The King and His Men

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 6 - The King and His Men**

"You carry chloroform in your subspace pocket?" asked Zoisite as they dragged Mamoru's limp body back to the parking lot. Fortunately everyone they met believed them when they said they were taking their friend to the hospital. Surprisingly the majority of people barely gave notice to the three men, with one exception being an old lady who gave them an earful for letting their friend drink so much.

"Well, would you rather we took him out kicking and screaming?" asked Kunzite sarcastically, trying to brace Mamoru so that his head wouldn't be dashed open on the hard litter strewn fair grounds.

"I'm still not sure kidnapping was 100 percent necessary," mused Zoisite, who had been mildly horrified when Kunzite had immediately broken out the chloroform.

"It is better we kidnap him before he kidnaps Usagi," retorted Kunzite angrily. If Zoisite was at the end of the body with Mamoru's heavy head he wouldn't be doddling and asking so many questions.

"But we don't know if he was going to kidnap Usagi for sure," argued Zoisite, feeling kind of bad for the poor guy as his tailbone once again made contact with the ground. That was going to hurt when he woke up.

"He knew that she was Sailor Moon," stated Kunzite, in a tone that implied that information alone was enough to sentence him to the gallows.

"That doesn't necessarily mean he was going to kidnap her," pointed out Zoisite, lifting Mamoru's legs higher so they wouldn't hit the ground quite so often. Geez, Kunzite had conveniently picked the easy part of the body that did not have require lots of force to keep his legs straight so his body would not bang against the ground. Not that Kunzite would have cared how much damage he did to Mamoru.

"No, but did you see the way he looked at her when she was transforming," hissed Kunzite, practically pulling Mamoru's arms out of the socket to get Zoisite to move faster.

"Yeah, the staring was a bit much," Zoisite relented. He didn't like to think of anyone looking at Usagi like that. She was practically his little sister after-all. But he had to admit to himself that any man in his right mind would stare at a senshi transformation. In fact when he and Ami where feeling a little adventurous...

"I didn't knock him out for _that_," muttered Kunzite breaking into Zoisite's thoughts. "Do you think I would knock a guy out just for looking at her?"

"Well, you did punch that guy who took a picture of Mina sunbathing," pointed out Zoisite. Kunzite merely glared back in response. It was disheartening to think that his fellow shittenou weren't as observant as they should be. "It wasn't that he was looking at her, it was the fact that he wasn't one bit surprised that the girl he was on a date with was turning into a super-heroine."

"So you think he knew Usagi was Sailor Moon before she transformed?" asked Zoisite, finally realizing why Kunzite was so worried about Mamoru.

"Exactly," replied Kunzite, happy to see that he finally gotten the importance of the situation through to Zoisite. They both momentarily thought of Diamond who had tried to get close to Usagi by telling her that he knew her secret. With that thought in mind they threw Mamoru roughly into the back-seat of Kunzite's car.

"Where are we taking him?" asked Zoisite, as he shut the back door of the car and climbed into the passenger seat. "Get into the back-seat with Mamoru, if he wakes up we don't want him attacking me while I'm driving," commanded Kunzite, marvelling at Zoisite's stupidity. But it wasn't Zoisite's fault that he wasn't very experienced with kidnapping. They had never had reason to do it before. Though once he had blindfolded Ami for a special date, but she had ended up falling into a swimming pool.

"So where exactly are we going?" repeated Zoisite, as Kunzite began to pull the car out of the parking lot. He hoped they weren't going too far, Mamoru's legs were sprawled over him in the crowded back seat and he didn't relish the thought of where he might get kicked if Mamoru were to wake up. Kunzite didn't bother to point out to Zoisite that it would have been easier if he seated Mamoru upright on the seat and used the seat-belt to hold him there. Sometimes his men just needed to learn the hard way."To my place," Kunzite replied, referring to the mansion that he and Minako owned. The place was huge, with a secure front gate and a basement a la Bruce Wayne style where the guys sometimes met up to train. It was a great haven for someone with a secret identity and also conveniently perfect for holding a prisoner.

"What about Jadeite?" asked Zoisite, as he unsuccessfully tried to push Mamoru's legs off of himself and unto the floor. Kunzite had sent Jadeite to tell Usagi that Mamoru was acting suspicious and they were monitoring his actions. They both felt that it was best she knew to suspect Mamoru in case he got away. Kunzite ignored Zoisite's question, his answer obvious as he hit the accelerator. He wanted to get Mamoru safely tied up in his basement before he woke up. And who knew how long it would take Jadeite to find Usagi?

Jadeite looked through the throng of people, trying to spot Usagi. He knew that he should be roving around all the back alleys and deserted areas where she should be de-transforming right about now. But catching one of the senshi's in the middle of a transformation was always so awkward. I mean, if they all were together and all transforming it wasn't so bad, but those one-on-one occasions were just painful for everyone involved. Unless of course it happened to be Rei-chan he was alone with, that was completely different matter. No, he preferred just to walk around in the throng of people hoping to catch Usagi after the act. Sure, it might take a little longer but he was sure that the guys had left him already by now. He looked up at the caged ferris wheel from which the two children had just been rescued... now he really would never get him on that thing again. Jadeite continued to half-heartedly search for Usagi when he spotted Rei over by the food court. "Rei!" he yelled, hoping to get her attention.

"Jadeite!" she yelled back, looking almost overjoyed to see him. 'That's odd,' he thought as he started to jog towards her, surprised to see that she was practically running at him. He was even more bewildered when she caught him in a hug and squealed, "Jade." "Yeah?" he asked her, momentarily forgetting that he wanted to ask her where Usagi had gone too.

"Guess what?" she asked, her face completely lighting up with happiness and a mysterious smile. His heart sped up and he remembered all over again why he put up with the fiery princess.

"You won the karaoke?" he asked, vaguely remembering that Rei had wanted him to watch her sing before they had gotten parted by his weak stomach. Rei shook her head and bit her tongue from yelling out what she had learned.

"Um... you won a toy from one of those stupid mechanical arms that can never pick up anything?" he asked again. Again she shook her head.

"Are you going to give me some sort of clue?" he asked, giving Rei his best set of puppy dog eyes.

"It's about Mamoru," she said, suddenly bringing Jadeite back down to the task at hand. It was about Mamoru? And she was happy about it? Happy about the guy they had just drugged? "What about him?" asked Jadeite wearily; knowing that whatever Rei had to say probably wouldn't be good news for him.

"He's Endymion," she whispered excitedly into Jadeite's ear.

"Endymion?" he gulped, trying not to meet Rei's glance. "I mean, how do you know?"

"Well, I was talking to him and then it was like I knew him from somewhere. Then I had this really vivid flash of our past," replied Rei enthusiastically, wondering why Jadeite wasn't more excited about her news.

"Well, that's not, you don't know for sure," replied Jadeite, nervously playing with his watch strap. Sure Rei had amazing intuition about these things, but that didn't mean one flash meant he was the right guy. Surely they wouldn't have knocked out their king. The one guy they were sworn to protect.

"It's him," repeated Rei, "He and Usagi were singing together, and I could tell. They just had this spark about them, they blew the audience away," rushed Rei, remembering how amazing they had been onstage together.

"So, you're telling me he's Endymion because of one memory and a good duet?" asked Jadeite.

"Yes," replied Rei, suddenly not feeling so sure about her assessment, and slightly annoyed with Jadeite for doubting her claim. But getting up everyone's hopes over a false alarm would be painful for them all. She knew that as well as anyone.

"And what does Usagi think?" he asked, breaking Rei out of her thoughts. He silently prayed that Usagi didn't know about Mamoru being Endymion.

"What do I think about what?" asked Usagi, walking over to the couple. She had been trying to find Mamoru for the last twenty minutes and was starting to get a healthy mix of annoyed and worried. Why wasn't he in the large crowd of people which had watched her save the kids?

"About Mamoru," stated Jadeite, assuming that Usagi must not know the truth or she would have been babbling on about him without needing to be asked. As Usagi prepared to answer his question he shot Rei a warning glance.

Rei supposed Jade's glance was to keep her from telling Usagi her suspicions in case they turned out to be false. In reality of course it was because Jadeite had a sinking feeling that Mamoru was exactly who Rei thought he was. He could just imagine Usagi's pleasure if he was forced to tell her what had happened. 'Yes, we finally found the guy you've been waiting thousands of year to see again, but I'm afraid you're going to have to wait just a little bit longer because, well, funny story...'

"He's okay," she replied, unenthusiastically. She couldn't very well tell Jadeite that she was falling for some random guy. She was smart enough to know that if the guys were ever going to let her go anywhere with Mamoru she would have to pretend it wasn't anything serious.

"Sounds like a real love match," joked Jadeite. He turned to Rei as of to say, 'strike one' for Mamoru being Endymion. If he could just convince Rei that Mamoru wasn't anybody special long enough to sneak off and find the guys and fix this mess.

"Oh shut up," retorted Usagi. "Have either of you seen him?" she added hopefully. She looked between her two friends. Neither answered her but Jadeite looked visibly paled. But preoccupied with her thoughts Usagi barely noticed his panicked look or the fact that Rei shot a victory glance towards Jadeite before responding, "Why are you so eager to find him?"

"Listen, Usagi, why don't we help you find him?" offered Jadeite quickly. This earned him a confused glance from Usagi and a knowing one from Rei. 'Of course he wants to find out for himself if Mamoru is actually Endymion. Then he'll get all the credit', she thought. Well she wasn't going to allow that to happen. "Yeah, good idea, I'll help Jadeite and that way you can call us on the scout line if you find him first," she cut in.

"You know we shouldn't use those for unofficial scout business," pointed out Usagi. She was never very good at abiding by that rule, but Rei usually was quite strict about what was and was not allowed. "Well, we'll let it go this once," said Rei with a wink. With that said she took off with Jadeite leaving a very confused Usagi alone on the fair ground.

"Good try," Rei whispered to Jadeite, once they had gotten away from Usagi. "You want to find him first and get all the credit."

"Not quite," said Jadeite, realizing he might as well come clean. He was sure Rei wasn't going to let him out of her sights long enough for him to warn the guys. "I already sort of know where he is," he admitted beginning to walk faster towards the parking lot. Maybe they could still catch the guys.

"Huh?" asked Rei, pulling Jadeite to a stop.

"Well, you see, Kunzite sort of found him looking at Usagi in a way he didn't like and so he drugged him," explained Jadeite quickly. Rei looked at him with wide eyes and they both took off towards the parking lot hoping to find their friends before anyone did something they might regret. Lucky for Jadeite Rei was too angry with Kunzite to even spare a few harsh words for him.

Kunzite re-secured the ropes on Mamoru's hands and added another around his waist. He wasn't going to risk Mamoru getting away before he had his chance to question him thoroughly. The man was already beginning to squirm and moan and Kunzite knew it was only a matter of time before he was fully conscious. "Zoisite, where is that rope?" he asked angrily, wondering what was taking his counterpart so long.

"Master Kunzite, I think he's tied up enough," pointed out Zoisite, handing Kunzite a skipping rope that he had found on the other side of the room. Kunzite rolled his eyes at the use of the word Master. It was a tactic used by the two other shittenou when they wanted to avoid responsibility. 'I was just following orders,' they could retort later.

"What?" came a weak voice and both men's attention was drawn to their prisoner. "Where am I?" he asked, his mind struggling to break through.

"We're Usagi's guards," admitted Kunzite, hoping to catch Mamoru unaware with his honesty. He did not like the idea of using torture to get the truth out of people.

"I thought Sailor Moon had female guardians," mumbled Mamoru to himself, but both Kunzite and Zoisite caught his words. Maybe Mamoru didn't know as much about Usagi as they thought. For everyone in Tokyo knew of the Sailor Senshi and most knew of the shittenou who often fought along beside them.

"We're not her senshi, we're the shittenou," admitted Zoisite. He may have lacked experiencing in the kidnapping portion, but Kunzite's questioning tactics he knew by heart.

'The shittenou,' thought Mamoru. That word seemed familiar. He must have read about them when he was researching Sailor Moon. He tried to push the confusion out of his mind to focus on the two men. They were familiar too, but the clouds in his mind wouldn't let him focus. "Lucky," he said out-loud without thinking.

"How so?" asked Kunzite.

"You get to fight beside her," Mamoru murmured, "You get to see... her beautiful hair," he added his voice breaking off. The dreams were whirling in his head and he tried to shake them off. He needed to focus on reality but his mind was trying to slip back into dreams and unconsciousness. Why were his hands tied?

"You want to fight with her?" asked Zoisite incredulously. Had they just kidnapped an obsessed fan who dreamed of playing the hero?

"I want to save her," Mamoru admitted, trying to remember the new dream that had been before his eyes only a moment ago. It had been different from all of the other dreams. It hadn't been so lovely. He hadn't been able to save her... No, that wasn't right, he had just seen Usagi and she was alive and well.

"And then what would you do?" asked Kunzite. He knew that an obsessed fan could do just as much harm to Usagi as a youma. However, stalkers were much more difficult to deal with. They had been lucky in the past; most guys were scared away with a little ingenuity. But Mamoru had already shown himself to be stubborn.

"Dance," replied Mamoru, trying to put his arms around the girl in his mind, happy to relive the old dreams instead of remembering the new one. But his arms wouldn't move. Why were their ropes? He pulled at them angrily.

Zoisite couldn't help himself, he threw a smirk at Kunzite. "You drugged a guy who wants to save her. And all he asks is a dance," he teased.

"It's not funny," Kunzite bit back. What exactly where they supposed to do now? Maybe if they untied Mamoru and took him back to his apartment he would believe this was all a dream. Then all they had to do was make sure he and Usagi never saw each other again. Deciding that was the best, and only idea, Kunzite began to untie Mamoru. As he cautiously removed all the ropes and helped Mamoru to his feet the dazed man looked deep into his eyes, "Are you taking me to her?" he asked.

"Not quite," replied Kunzite, looking away. He did not like the way the man seemed to be taking to someone else inside him. He gestured for Zoisite to brace Mamoru on the other side so they could make their way towards the stairs.

"I didn't think you were, you don't like me being with her," he whispered. But he knew Kunzite couldn't keep him away from her. Silly Kunzite. He would be with her anyway. The girl that called him Endymion, the one who the guys tried to keep him away from.

"No, we don't," affirmed Zoisite firmly.

"But you never tied me up before," Mamoru protested weakly. At least he was pretty sure that they hadn't. They just told him to stay away from her. That she wasn't really meant for him at all. "I can't believe you tied me up," he repeated, this time in an outraged voice. They were meant to protect him. Why were they tying him up? Nothing made any sense. Where was Serenity?

"No, you should have left her alone before it came to this," replied Kunzite sternly. "Because things will just get worse if you try to see her again," he added. He might as well do his best to prevent Mamoru from trying to see Usagi again.

"Leave her alone? I can't, she's already imprinted in my skin," protested Mamoru wildly. Both Kunzite and Zoisite shared an uncomfortable glance. Maybe he wanted a little more than a dance from Usagi. "The way she feels, just a kiss is amazing," he said reliving the moments of dreams or memories, it didn't matter. He just had to make them see, he had to let them know that it was too late to save him from Serenity. "When we made love..." he stopped. No that wasn't right, he had never been with Usagi. "No, Endymion's the lucky one," he mumbled aloud. "But I will have her too," he whispered to himself conspiratorially.

Kunzite and Zoisite looked alarmed at one another. How did Mamoru know about Endymion? It was obvious now that Mamoru was just as much a risk as Kunzite had first suspected. Kunzite abruptly stopped bracing Mamoru in order to face him head on. "How do you know about Endymion?" he demanded, while Zoisite continued to support Mamoru's weight.

"But I'll please her just like he did," avowed Mamoru, not paying any attention to the very angry man standing in front of him. He thought only of his princess, the one that he had found again. Pretty Usagi.

Kunzite never was one for brutality, but Mamoru's words cracked something inside the collected stoic. 'How dare this guy think he could replace Endymion!' was the thought that screamed through his head. The thought that made him grab Mamoru from Zoisite and slam him up against the basement's hard cement wall. "No one can replace Endymion," he yelled, his tone mimicking his blood-thirsty actions.

"Endymion was far from perfect," Mamoru cut back bitterly.

"He was our king," thundered Kunzite, shaking Mamoru back against the wall. "And my friend," he added, trying to keep himself from breaking Mamoru's neck in his outrage. Even an outraged Kunzite knew that you got no answers from the dead.

"He let her die!" yelled Mamoru in response. The pain in his body not even registering compared to the pain he felt in his heart at that moment. The moment when the dream finally ended and he realized that he had been responsible for his dream woman's death.

Zoisite watched the scene in complete shock, unable to do anything but watch as the strategical Kunzite completely lost his cool and attempted to punch his prisoner in the face. Zoisite momentarily turned away and braced for the sound of flesh cutting into flesh, the gurgling sound of blood being spit away from the mouth, the pop of a broken nose. But to his shock it never came. Instead there was a loud snap as Zoisite refocused on the two men in wonder. Mamoru had blocked the punch, grabbing Kunzite's fist in his own. Now he was slowly forcing Kunzite into a kneeling position.

As the pain in his hand intensified Kunzite frantically glanced around to see what had happened to Zoisite. Why wasn't he helping him? He was about to yell out in anger when he saw Zoisite from the corner of his eye. Why was Zoisite just standing there staring? And why was he slowly getting down on one knee? Following Zoisite's shocked stare Kunzite looked up at the man in front of him. Unlike Zoisite he didn't notice the armour that now graced Mamoru's body. No, he only saw the heartbreak in his eyes. It was enough though, for he had seen pain like that before.

End Chapter 6

Stay Tuned For Chapter 7 – Merry-Go-Round


	7. Chapter 7 Merry Go Round

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**Chapter 7 – Merry-Go-Round**

"Let us in!!" demanded Jadeite as he and Rei pounded on the wire gate which was barring their entrance to Minako and Kunzite's elaborate mansion. Rei grasped the wrought iron bars and shook them as hard as she could in desperation but all her efforts were in vain. They had tried calling up for entrance at least ten times each but no one was answering. However, they knew that meant someone had to be home as there was always at least one security guard around to refuse guests when the mansion was vacant.

"They have to be here, I mean, where else would they take him?" asked Jadeite, waiting for Rei to agree with him before he proceeded to break into their friends' home. Rei merely nodded in agreement and soon the Sailor Senshi Mars stood by his side. "Now I'm ready to climb that tree," she said as she pointed to a tall tree that was conveniently growing beside the gate. A brief climb later they landed ceremoniously inside the gates.

Jadeite picked up one of the tree branches that had broken off and plummeted, with him on it, to the ground during their climb. He started eagerly towards the mansion with it, prepared to knock out a few windows in order to gain admittance. Luckily Rei was able to grab his hand in time to stop him. "Luna and Artemis have a set of keys," she informed him calmly.

Luna and Artemis lived in a small house that was built off the side of the main mansion. The architect who had designed the 'kitty house' had assumed Minako was just a tad affected when she had requested a separate residence for the cats. But he supposed all celebrities were a bit off their rockers. Still he had been especially stupefied with Minako when she demanded the kitty house be internet ready.

Rei knocked on the cat's door and waited anxiously while contemplating if she could fit through the small cat sized door. Fortunately she did not have time to test her theory as a few seconds later Luna popped her head out of the kitty entrance and glanced at Sailor Mars, a confused look on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"We need your keys to the mansion," requested Rei, contemplating whether she should break out the catnip she kept in her subspace pocket for bribery on days like today.

"Why?" asked Luna, looking suspiciously between Rei and Jadeite. The two couples were known for having disagreements with one another, or more specifically Rei and Jadeite were notorious for playing pranks on Minako and Kunzite.

"Because Kunzite has kidnapped one of Usagi's dates and we think he's keeping him here," Jadeite cut in hastily.

"That's a bit extreme," marvelled Luna, "But it still doesn't explain why you two want in so badly." She didn't quit approve of the shittenou's methods of preserving their princess's innocence for her king, but their protection of Usagi did make her job much easier.

"Rei thinks it's Endymion they've kidnapped," added Jadeite and Luna merely stared wide eyed at the couple.

"In that case I'm coming too," she meowed once her shock wore off. She ran quickly into the house, hastily informing Artemis of the couple's suspicions as she ran outside with keys dangling from her mouth. Artemis had been sleeping comfortably on the silk covered dawn pillow Mina had bought him for his birthday. Or at least the day she assigned to him as his birthday. But now he found himself wide awake rushing after his companion.

"They must be in the basement," Artemis declared to the group which was already rushing towards the basement. They flew down the long flight of shallow stairs as fast as they could, all hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of the man that could be their king.

Rei pushed Jadeite ruthlessly out of the way in order to be the first to make it down the stairs. Her brutally was rewarded as she was the first to spot the three men in the corner of the basement. To her shock there was no great inquisition or celebration going on down there. The three men were merely sitting in chairs calmly drinking coffee.

"Huh?!" she burst out thinking that this was quite anti-climatic as the three men finally noticed their guests.

"Rei, Jadeite," greeted Kunzite and ushered them over to where they were sitting. When they got closer Rei was displeased to notice that there was a bad gash on Mamoru's head and Kunzite was favouring his right hand which was weakly holding his cup. Rei was disappointed that they had missed out on the action! Now they were just sitting around like the oldest of friends. But she supposed she should just be thankful that no one was killed.

"So you are Endymion," said Rei, smiling warmly at Mamoru despite her disappointment. She also shot a smirk at Jadeite, happy to see that her suspicions had been vindicated.

"That's what they are telling me," answered Mamoru. Appearing in a knight's garb and being honoured by two men bowing had completely shocked Mamoru back into his senses. However the two men had been endeavouring to bewilder him with the story of his past ever since.

"Perhaps we can help add to their explanations," offered Luna, jumping up on Mamoru's shoulder. Mamoru just stared at the talking cat. But it was just another shock in a night of many and he nodded gratefully.

Several hours passed in conversation without the notice of the little group. They were all entranced in once again hearing the story of the Moon Kingdom. It was a story dear to each of their hearts and the new pieces of memories that Mamoru was able to contribute were gems to each of them. Mamoru especially was taken with the story that finally answered the questions that had plagued him for so long. He finally knew who he was, and more important who his dream woman was! The group's mutual fascination had them so deep in conversation that they barely noticed it when one of their own descended upon them unexpectedly.

"What's going on?" demanded Minako, looking first at her husband and then at each of the individuals for an answer as she stalked over to their intimate group.

"Mamoru is Endymion," Kunzite informed his wife matter-of-factly.

"Really?!?" she shrieked, forgetting to be angry that she, the head senshi, had been left out of one of the most important looking meetings of their lives. In her joy she grabbed the man who was still practically a stranger to her and gave him a fierce hug. "This is excellent news!" she shrilled. But suddenly her jubilant celebrations were cut short. "Where is Usagi?" she demanded.

"Well?" insisted Minako in shock. "You are celebrating the fact that her prince is finally showed up. Don't you think she ought to be here?"

"Yes," answered the group sheepishly.

"Well, then where is she?" demanded Minako as her guests realized in shock they had left her behind in the excitement of the day.

Usagi sat down on the bench and looked at her watch. It was almost 11:30 and the fair would be closed in ½ an hour. She looked at her communicator, contemplating using it to call her friends to ask where they were. But she didn't bother. She would just transform into Sailor Moon and run home if they didn't come back for her. Or she could ask Makoto and Kal for a ride home. She had seen them at the fair earlier while she was looking for Mamoru. But she could not bring herself to interrupt the happy couple. Or maybe it was she just didn't want to be around any happy couples. It seemed that's all she saw these days, people who were happy and in love. Love which was evident by clasped hands and a sense that the couple was laughing at secret jokes only they knew. This happiness and beauty was what she fought for in the world. But tonight it all seemed in vain. Love wasn't as strong as she thought it was. Even her legendary romance with Endymion had come to nothing. She was going to toss him aside to give Mamoru a chance, yet he too deserted her.

"Usagi?" said a concerned voice and she looked up to see her friend smiling at her.

"What are you doing here?" Usagi asked in surprise. She hadn't expected to see Ami at the fair at that time of night. Where was Zoisite?

"I wanted to ride on the merry-go-ground," she admitted sheepishly. Usagi gave her an odd look and she felt she needed to defend herself.

"It reminds me of a memory."

"Oh," replied Usagi dully.

"In the Moon Kingdom, Zoisite and I..," she began, finding it hard to put that wonderful memory into words. Ami had few clear memories of her past life and this was one of her most precious.

"Where is Zoisite?" asked Usagi, interrupting Ami. She knew it was very rude of her but she did not think she could bear to hear any romantic stories tonight about honouring past lives.

"I don't know," replied Ami and Usagi was surprised by this. The only time the two seemed to be apart from one another since their engagement was when they were at their academic classes.

"Did you lose him at the fair too?" asked Usagi, suddenly feeling more sympathetic towards her friend.

"No, I came by myself tonight," admitted Ami as she sat down next to Usagi.

"How come?" asked Usagi. The fair wasn't exactly a place to go by oneself.

"Well, like I said, I just wanted to ride the merry-go-round," she repeated, colouring lightly. But this time Usagi did not interrupt her friend's story.

"They remind me of the great stallions of the moon. I rode one of them once, right before Zoisite left for the last time. He was riding out to find Endymion. I think it was when they were preparing to go back to Earth to quell the uprising. We had said our goodbyes and he was starting to ride away. Something inside told me I might never see him again and I ran after her. That's when he pulled me up on his horse and let me ride with him awhile." Ami closed her eyes and relived the memory as if it were yesterday and not thousands of years ago.

"Then why isn't he here with you tonight?" asked Usagi.

"Well, when we were on that horse together I told him not to leave me. But he merely said that it was his duty and I had to understand that. I have to admit I thought he was being awfully cold towards me when he put things in terms of duty. Not that I didn't understand, but I thought maybe our love was stronger than duty. To me it seemed like all the others were putting their love first. I told him that too." Ami stopped talking suddenly.

"What did he say?" asked Usagi, sensing that there had to be more to the memory that Ami cherished so closely.

"He told me that he didn't need to choose love or duty because they were never in conflict. That he first realized he was in love with me while he was millions of miles away riding with the guard. That my memory still haunted him no matter where he went. That my love was what kept him fighting. Of course I still didn't want him to go. But love isn't something you get without a small price. 'Love untested is love unsure'. That's why I came here alone, to remind myself that he's in my heart even when he isn't in my arms."

"What will I do?" asked Usagi turning to look at her friend.

"About what?" asked Ami. She hadn't shared that memory with anyone, not even Zoisite. In fact she had only told Usagi tonight because she felt that it might comfort her in her wait for Endymion. She had looked so sad and lonely on the bench.

"About Endymion," replied Usagi surprising herself. She had been going to ask Ami about Mamoru.

"All you can do is wait," said Ami, her voice neither hopeful nor hopeless.

"But I'm falling for Mamoru in the meantime," Usagi whispered so that Ami could barely hear her.

"Mamoru? The guy we met at the Arcade," asked Ami in surprise. Hadn't he left with Makoto? How had she become so preoccupied with what was going on in her own life to be so misinformed about her friends.

"Yes," affirmed Usagi.

"And you really like him?" asked Ami dumbfoundedly.

"I really do Ami. It's just, I am in love with Endymion. He's always going to be in my heart in that love at a distance way. But I don't think I can wait for him anymore."

"Well, that's true, because the carnival is closing," joked Ami. She may have been with Zoisite for many years but he was her only boyfriend and she felt too inexperienced to give any advice when it came to matters of the heart. It was easier to lapse into humour and let Usagi find her own answers. "Do you need a ride home?" she offered.

"I can drive her," offered a male voice and both girls looked over at Mamoru who was approaching them. Ami smiled at him timidly and headed to her car confident Usagi would make the right decision.

"We have all been looking for you," said Mamoru, smiling at his princess. "But I'm glad I got to you first," he added.

"Are you?" she asked shyly as he sat down beside her. She looked up at him to see his response but was appalled when she saw the bloody gash on his head.

"What did they do?!" she exclaimed, all anger at Mamoru quickly disappearing as she realized what must have happened to Mamoru. She quickly jumped off her stool to try and tend to his wounds but he just grasped her hands in his.

"They kidnapped me. Kunzite and Zoisite," he admitted. There was no sense protecting the guys, besides, they had beaten him up no matter how much he liked them now.

"They what?" Usagi exclaimed and he held unto her hands harder to keep her in place.

"And then they told me how much that guy you told me about meant to you," he continued his eyes gleaming at the fiery light in her eyes.

"They did?!" she howled, "What exactly did they say?"

"That you've been waiting for him. Very patiently but it's hard for you since he's been gone so long. And I'm not to take advantage of that." Mamoru grinned to himself. Indeed Minako had taken him aside when they reached the fair grounds. She had told him that Usagi 'wasn't experienced in those things' and if he was to find her first that he 'wasn't to rush her home to bed no matter how badly he wanted too.' But if he did anyway he was to 'be gentle.'

"So they bet you up and told you how much I still love Endymion," she said slowly.

"Yes," he affirmed.

"Then why are you still here?" she said. Mamoru smiled at the way she did not deny her love for Endymion. He could see that in her eyes she was very torn and he couldn't wait any longer to tell her. He had to take that pain and tormented look away from her for good.

"Because I've missed you Serenity," he whispered into her ear.

"You, how do you know….?" she asked, jumping up off the bench in confusion as her heart desperately tried to get the message through to her brain.

"I'm sorry it took me so long my princess, but I thought you were just a dream. I'm sorry," he said, standing up beside her. He took her into his arms and she felt herself fall into his embrace. It truly felt like home to her and no matter what Ami said, she never wanted to be out of his arms again. Their love had been tested enough for two lifetimes.

Mamoru smiled at the girl in his arms and knew that the dreams would haunt him no more. He had finally found her and a wonderful reality could take over. He smiled as he bent down and claimed the lips of his queen. Usagi pulled away at first, her instinct to run away from romance still strong despite herself.

"It's okay, I think the guys will permit it," he said, reclaiming her lips. This time they did not break apart until the carnival had grown completely dark and her searching friends had gone home. Even then they parted reluctantly.

"I'm grateful to the shittenou for protecting you all these years. But I'm glad I don't have to go through that again," he said, gesturing to his gash before taking Usagi's hand to find a way out of the carnival.

Usagi giggled to herself. "Yes, well, just wait until you meet my father."

The End – Excepting the Epilogue


	8. An Epilogue of Sorts

**7 Years Waiting For You**

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

**An Epilogue of Sorts**

"She's late!" ranted Minako pulling her husband from where he had been sitting most contentedly prior to having his chair dislodged out from under him. Of course this little scene was prompting whispers to spread throughout the company of guests assembled at the shrine. Therefore in order to prevent mass pandemonium Kunzite quickly followed his wife bearing a confident look that everything would be okay.

"What do you mean?" he hissed as soon as they were outside and away from prying eyes. Indeed, a very stupid sounding question for a man who prided himself as being one of the few logical people in their close circle of friends. But he knew that the questions that sounded stupidest to him were usually the ones that got the best answers out of his wife.

"I mean that she isn't here yet! Her wedding starts in five minutes and she isn't here yet!" scoffed Minako who was beginning to enter complete panic mode. "And I haven't seen her since the bachelorette party last night so I have no idea where to find her."

Kunzite just smiled at that comment. Rei had called him the night before and informed him to come and collect his wife before she ruined her career with a drunken rendition of "I Like Big Butts."

"Have you tried phoning her?" he asked calmly while his wife looked at him in distress.

"Of course I have!" retorted Minako, glaring at her husband. Sometimes he treated her as if she was still that airheaded young girl he first met. In many ways she was, but everyone had to agree that Minako had become a very capable woman over the last few years. A woman who greatly resembled the warrior leader she had been on the Moon Kingdom. However most people attributed her maturation to the adorable young man who she was calling the babysitter about every few minutes, and not her time as a senshi.

"On the communicator?" asked Kunzite.

"Oh," replied Mina, sheepishly looking through her purse for her communicator. After a few seconds of digging through the contents she found it and proceeded to page her friends.

"Neither Usagi or Makoto are picking up. Where could they be?" she whined after a few minutes.

"You want to tell us something Minako?" interrupted a man's voice and Minako whipped around to see Motoki and Mamoru standing behind her.

"What are you...?" she queried, surprised to see that the two men had come outside. They were supposed to be in the back room of the shrine doing some kind of weird soul cleansing ritual that Rei had talked each of her senshi into performing before their weddings.

"I have a communicator too," explained Mamoru showing Minako the small device that Luna had finally deemed him worthy to receive. It still was not as nice as the girls and it didn't have a video monitor but it had allowed him to hear Minako's desperate pleas. Minako merely smiled sheepishly at the two boys.

"I will go find them then," volunteered Mamoru before Minako could make any excuses for the girls. Besides, Mamoru was restless to get this wedding over with. As he started to make his way to look for the girls, Motoki pulled him aside.

"Maybe it's not meant to be," Motoki said simply.

"Motoki, what are you talking about, Makoto loves you," reassured Mamoru confidently. After the senior who dumped Makoto had become the boyfriend that cheated on her, Motoki had been the one who spent hours cheering her up. In fact he had been the first one who had been able to make her smile afterward. He had also been the one who escorted her to first Ami's and then Rei's weddings when she hadn't wanted to go alone. In short he had been her rock.

"I know, but I feel like we're rushing into this. Maybe we shouldn't go looking for them. Maybe I should just let her be," countered Motoki. He didn't want to think that Makoto was just marrying him so she did not have to be alone anymore. He expected the cool, calm and collected Mamoru to understand what he was saying. After all Mamoru certainly was taking his own time woo-ing Usagi. In fact he had been surprised when Mamoru had been so encouraging when he first revealed that he was thinking of asking Makoto to marry him.

"Motoki that's loser talk!" burst out Mamoru as he dragged his friend out the shrine to find the two girls. He was the best man and he was going to make sure this wedding happened. He needed it to happen.

"He would want you to happy," reassured Usagi, smiling sweetly at her friend as she brushed away the tears that were streaming down Makoto's face. It was one of the few times Usagi had ever seen Makoto look so vulnerable and she pulled her into a protective hug.

"I know that, and I am, I love Motoki so much. It's just, I woke up this morning and I thought of him."

"You're allowed to think of him. It doesn't take away from your love for Motoki," soothed Usagi.

"But I never even got to say goodbye to him, or hello, or that I remember you," Makoto said softly through her tears.

"Do you remember Ameatus?" asked Usagi suddenly hoping this would give Makoto the reassurance she needed.

"No, should I?" asked Makoto and Usagi was glad to see Makoto's tears were held at bay for the moment.

"Well, I barely remember him either but he was a friend of mine on the Moon Kingdom. His father was a general in the army and we would have lessons together. And I remember that you had the biggest crush on him in the whole wide world and that we used to fight over him," said Usagi with a little laugh. "He went out for training one day. This was before the days of the more serious feuds between the Earth and the Moon. There was just some freak accident that no one could foresee, and Ameatus never came home again." Usagi paused and looked at Makoto's face. She had definitely earned the other girls interest, and she paused dramatically before continuing sombrely. "We both said we'd never love anyone else again. And when I fell for Endymion you reminded me that you must have loved Ameatus more."

"What did you say about that?" asked Makoto.

"That you were dead wrong. That it was Ameatus who taught me what love was and what kind of guy I wanted in my life. That he was the one who showed me how great it could be. And I wasn't going to waste all that he taught me," Usagi paused and smiled at her friend. The two girls' eyes met and unspoken sentences were read, the kind which only pause between really old friends who understand each others' hearts.

"You're right," said Makoto as she wiped her eyes and looked down at her wedding dress. "And I think it's time for a wedding," she added, a smile brightening up her whole face and eclipsing the tears. It was time to let go of the past.

"I'm glad to hear that," came a voice and the two women turned around to see Mamoru. He had sent Motoki back to the shrine once he had spotted the girls sitting in the park. He didn't want to risk Motoki seeing them bawling their eyes out. It would be enough to ruin any man's confidence. Especially after he had convinced Mamoru that Usagi's tardiness was probably the primary reason the two girls were late. Both Mamoru and Usagi helped the resolved Makoto into the passenger seat of his car, careful not to get any dirt on her dress. After the door was closed they smiled at each other conspiratorially.

"Did Ameatus really exist?" whispered Mamoru.

Usagi blushed scarlet. "No," she admitted guiltily.

"That's okay; I told Motoki that only a nega-verse goon would dare back out on marrying a girl on her wedding day."

The couple shared a laugh and entwined their hands together before reluctantly releasing each other so they could get into the car. Usagi sat in the back seat by herself and slowly fingered the silver chain on her neck, causing the locket it held to move across her skin. Her smile grew as she thought about the ring she had placed inside it carefully a few years earlier. If she had known then that Makoto and Kal weren't heading straight to the alter she probably would have never told Mamoru that her friends happiness always came first and that she could not marry him until Makoto was wed. After all, once upon a time she had experienced the pain of losing what Makoto had lost. Except back then she had been selfish, letting her own happiness drive her decisions and the conclusions had been anything but a fairy tale. But this time she got it right.

And so everyone lived happily ever after.

Author's Note:

My heartfelt thanks to every single one of my reviewers as well as those who added this story to their favourites, communities and/or alert lists. Your comments and support both warm my heart and help improve my writing. And if you're a new reader who just discovered this fiction and have made it this far please leave a review to let me know what you thought.

Shameless self promotion: If you liked this fiction think about checking out my new story _Destiny Calls_. It shares some common themes with 7 Years while still having its own unique story line.


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